Tommy Wiseau’s The Room is, in its own way, a masterpiece. Often called the Citizen Kane of bad movies, it’s mesmerizing in how every choice, be it in the writing, directing, acting, or editing, is the wrong one. Thus it’s a movie unlike any you could ever experience; an incredibly entertaining, beautiful mess.
And The Disaster Artist, based on the 2013 book by Greg Sestero (“Mark” in the film) is the story behind how that movie was made, as well as an insight into Sestero’s relationship with the bizarre Wiseau. And it’s a film made with a lot of heart by James Franco, who clearly has an enamoured fascination with the people who made The Room.
Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) is a struggling actor in San Francisco when he meets the strange and mysterious Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in 1998. Forming a friendship based on their mutual dream, the two then move to Los Angeles. But after Wiseau’s erratic behaviour and lack of talent fail to get him any jobs, he decides to make his own movie, writing a part specifically for Sestero. And the rest of the film chronicles the turbulent process of making the movie and the impact it has on their friendship.
Though Wiseau is obviously the more outlandish character, make no mistake, this is Greg Sestero’s story. And not in a way where you just need a relatively normal person to act as an audience surrogate and foil for Wiseau; the film actually devotes time to Sestero’s own story arc, his own dreams, and personal life, as well as how his relationship with Wiseau affects these. It’s sometimes played for laughs, but often with a degree of seriousness. And it allows for more conflict as the making of The Room takes its toll on Sestero and his career. Dave Franco is great, not only bearing a striking resemblance to Sestero, but accurately conveying his slightly naive and kind-hearted personality. It’s certainly the first performance of his I’ve seen where he convincingly does drama.
However this is the rare biographical film that also functions as a comedy. The Disaster Artist gets a lot of mileage out of cast and crew members questioning the ludicrous aspects of the writing and acting of The Room; from Carolyn Minnott, played by Jacki Weaver, wondering why her characters’ breast cancer never reappears after its awkward reference, to the crew’s dumbfounded response to Wiseau’s character laughing at a story about a girl being beaten to death. Clearly these performers are having a lot of fun re-enacting the more quotable scenes and moments from the film. And it’s funny to see how inept Wiseau was, needing dozens of takes to get one line of dialogue right that still comes off as one of the most hilariously bad deliveries in cinema.
Ironically though, playing Wiseau, James Franco is excellent. Anyone who’s seen The Room has done a Tommy Wiseau impression, but Franco doesn’t focus on just the odd accent, putting as much emphasis on his mannerisms and attitude. This is a character who’s meant to be more than just a joke, someone who on some level you should sympathize with. I feel like The Disaster Artist has a counterpart in Ed Wood. Tommy Wiseau himself has a lot in common with Wood, both having been filmmakers infamous for their bad movies, but who made them with such genuine passion you have to appreciate that. Say what you will about The Room, but it was Wiseau’s vision untainted. In his own weird way he’s an auteur, a fan of James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Tennessee Williams, all of whom are shadowed in his film. He even justifies his dictatorial nature on set by citing Hitchcock. And yes, he can be hard to like in his obnoxious and annoying habits, how he treats people, as well as his jealousy of Sestero forming a major hurdle in their relationship. But the point of this film is not to show him as a good person, rather as an eccentric artist. In this, Franco captures perfectly his humanity and absolute passion, to the point you feel for him when he’s heartbroken by an audience’s reaction to his movie.
Of the supporting cast, Seth Rogen and Paul Scheer are most notable as The Room’s sarcastic script supervisor and director of photography respectively; as is Alison Brie as Sestero’s girlfriend and Ari Graynor as Wiseau’s on-screen love interest. And Josh Hutcherson is a pretty good awkward Denny. There are a lot of cameos, many of them not surprisingly, from comedians including Megan Mullally, Bob Odenkirk, Jason Mantzoukas, June Diane Raphael, Nathan Fielder, Melanie Griffith, Hannibal Burress, Brett Gelman, Judd Apatow, Randall Park, and Bryan Cranston.
I don’t know if The Disaster Artist is quite the Ed Wood of this generation, but it is a great movie about the making of one of the most beloved bad movies of all time. That it’s also a character piece about the unusual but lasting friendship of Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau is a nice touch that makes it more relatable. If you haven’t seen The Room, it’s probably not as effective (it also spoils most of the best parts of that film), but for those of us who have seen and enjoyed that brilliant train-wreck, The Disaster Artist is a terrifically fun and interesting companion.
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