The Disaster Artist Review

     The idea of the best of the worst can be associated with numerous films. Most of them ranging from 60s-70s B Movies from the likes seen on Mystery Science Theater or incredibly dramatic films that are executed in an unintentionally hilarious way, and then there’s The Room. A film so infamous in quality that it has gained a huge cult following and many are fascinated by the fact that a movie with such an enigma of a person like Tommy Wiseau exists. There comes many questions to this type of film and director James Franco attempted to answer those questions through film with The Disaster Artist. Luckily, although not the masterpiece it could have been, James Franco gave an admirable attempt to tell the insanity that was the making of The Room.

     It should be mentioned that the Disaster Artist is based on the book of the same name written by Greg Sestero, one of the major stars of The Room. The film follows in his first steps having the story be told through his point of view and his interpretation of Tommy Wiseau, showcasing everything from how they met, some of their life choices and of course, making the classic known as The Room. The film falters slightly in a sense where unlike other biopic about certain directors like Tim Burton’s own Ed Wood, there isn’t a real sense of vision to make this film stand out from other true story type movies from a stylistic perspective. The cinematography, music choices, and editing are all serviceable for this type of film, however nothing truly stands out, it all seems rather standard for a directorial standpoint. It could have benefited from more of an interesting stylistic flare, making the film stand out in the same way other movies do based on actual events or people. Although, while the directing doesn’t feel like the best at point, the film completely makes up for it at certain points, mainly within the moments were the making of the Room is happening and with the story and themes itself. The highlights of the film are when the audience is seeing Tommy Wiseau’s directing the Room, it feels incredibly authentic to the how it went down, and although there are some key moments that aren’t shown during the making of the Room that the original book of the Disaster Artist went into more detailed about It, seeing the whole process ends up being both frustrating and hilarious. Not to mention, it gives also a good theme of filmmaking during these scenes with although film can be in charged through one vision, there needs to be a collaborative process in film making, otherwise ego gets in the way and a film’s quality can be utterly butchered. It’s a great cautionary tale of what can go wrong, but also with the help of some other elements, it ends up becoming much more than just that.

    

     For a film being the making of another film with some of the most surrealist acting of all time, it’s fair to expect that the actors in this film could retain that feeling of confusion and luckily the cast serves very well for The Disaster Artist. Most of the cast just consists of relatively big names like Seth Rogen and Allison Brie having very minor roles, but the roles suit them very well, Seth Rogen in particular being a good voice of commentary about the making of such an insane film. Though the film mostly centers around two actors, the first being Dave Franco as Greg Sestero. The character of Greg Sestero in this film is very like, pretty chill and grows throughout the entire film, and it’s fascinating to see especially when this film is mostly from his perspective. Dave Franco portrays this performance adequately well, however near the beginning it felt like this portrayal could have had more of a personality to him and been the more laid back Greg we know in real life. Luckily though his performance does get better as the film goes on, with the only real issue is that Dave Franco looks a bit too young to be playing this character. Dave looks like he can be in his early twenties where even in 2003; Greg looks like he could be in his late twenties. As good as the actors are in this film, none can match the true star of this movie with James Franco. Considering how magical of a person Tommy Wiseau is, it’s a hard accomplishment for any actor; no matter how good he is to recreate the majesty that is Tommy Wiseau; however James Franco does it near perfectly. All of his mannerisms, voice inflictions and even look match Tommy Wiseau in a near perfect manner. The entire movie you believe you’re not watching James Franco but instead Tommy Wiseau himself, and at some points the resemblance between Franco as Wiseau and Wiseau himself is uncanny. Not only does Franco understand Wiseau from a performance standpoint, but he also understands him on a personal level. Even with all the wackiness that this person causes and acts like, the end of the day, Wiseau is still human, with passions and dreams like anyone else. Franco does an outstanding portraying Wiseau even for as unsympathetic and alien he is at some points as someone who never gave up and even with the outcome of the Room being what it is, it’s still an accomplishment that it was made at all. The theme gives the film a much more personal feel and makes the Disaster Artist go from a relatively funny making of the Room movie, to something a little more in-depth, and if it wasn’t for Franco’s love and understanding of Tommy Wiseau, the film probably would not have been as strong.

    The Disaster Artist is far from the Oscar winner masterpiece that some are claiming it’ll be, however with so much passion into the film’s theme and over-all authenticity to a story like this, it serves as an very good love letter to cinema, The Room and having passions in general. It does have those particular details that could have made it a masterpiece, but the love of this film still shines through Franco’s direction and performance enough to make it one of the most entertaining films of this year.