The Disaster Artist

If you told me that a film starring and directed by James Franco that tells the story of how the "best worst" movie ever got made would 

A) be successful and 
B) be surprisingly entertaining 

I would have shaken my head and screamed to the heavens with vigor, 

"You're tearing me apart, Hollywood!"

On a more realistic note, it's a complete success that this movie was made and, with the core group of Franco, Franco, and Rogen behind it it's not all that surprising they picked such a silly and unique story. What is surprising perhaps is that this film is far less funny than their previous team-ups, as it's intended to be, because of its grounded reality and focus on it's hero/almost-anti-hero, Tommy Wiseau. 

The Room is a very bad film. Parts of it are endearing because of the over-the-top or completely-phoned-in performances of the cast but from every measurable standpoint -- editing, sound editing, acting, plot -- it's a bad film. I truthfully haven't seen the whole thing. I've watched several clips totaling to probably 20 minutes and that was enough for me. I've heard that it's better to watch with a group but where I have so many gaps in my movie-watching resume already, I'm not sure I'll ever make the full time for The Room. 

But I get it. Certain movies can be so bad that they inadvertently turn out to be hilarious, nonsensical romps with dramatic flair. This is most certainly The Room as Wiseau intended for it to be his masterpiece and a very serious drama. Instead, it has a cult following and feels like something that Buster or Tobias Bluth would have made on Arrested Development (not necessarily a bad thing, just driving my point home). 

Must have been fun to be on the set of this one...

There's some acting-ception going on here

The Disaster Artist is then the story of how friends Greg and Tommy met in San Francisco, found themselves down on their acting luck, and decided to make their own movie. The most intriguing and memorable aspect of the film is easily Franco who, with the help of some heavy makeup, plays Tommy Wiseau here, capturing his unidentifiable European accent, his grandiose sense of himself, and his just sheer absurdity. Franco is a funny man, but he takes his projects seriously and it's immediately obvious here. He's taken time (likely painstakingly) to understand and perfect his mimicry of Wiseau who has a lot of, shall we say, unique attributes. His performance strangely enough is far better and more endearing than Wiseau's was in The Room and I find it interesting that Wiseau was so willing to work with them on this film. It's pretty much actively making fun of him and it gives him really only a few redeeming qualities among a handful of shortcomings, plus you figure that this movie is better than The Room will ever be. But regardless, it seems to have his blessing (or maybe he really isn't in on the joke) and Franco's core performance is all the better for it.

The rest of the cast is fun too though everyone else is basically a side character except for Greg (Dave Franco) who is truthfully the main character of the film. Or at least the co-lead. James Franco did his brother a huge service here and gave him some of the richest material he's had yet in his career. I've always liked Dave Franco (sometimes more than James) but he's been reserved to mostly comedic roles. Here he gets to be funny, sure, but he's the sane voice in Tommy's insane world. He's a supportive friend and a struggling actor and generally a good person. Franco's turn as him is endearing for the character, but also for making sense of how The Room even ever got made. It was a dream shared by two friends that wouldn't let either back down from the adversity that came with it. With that understanding, it (The Room) seems like a secretly sweet ode to friendship and dreamers no matter what the outcome. 

"I did nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht!"

From a comedic standpoint I think many may be disappointed to hear that this is Franco and Co.'s least funny film to date, but again, that's how it was intended. It's also their most "dramatic" film to date so it couldn't be all dick/weed jokes. Most of the comedy comes from Franco portraying Wiseau and his caricature of this already-insane character particularly in the re-creation of scenes from The Room, of which there are several. Rogen comes in with several dry jokes on the insanity of all this once the film actually starts getting made but otherwise most of the comedy is "Wiseau" for better or worse. 

Truthfully, I wish it had been funnier because the dramatics didn't do a whole lot for me partially because I'm not so convinced that the actual Tommy Wiseau is a "good guy", but it's an entertaining and interesting film nonetheless because of the behind-the-scenes feel of it all and, again, the absurdity that there's now a movie...about the making of another movie...that just so happens to be one of the worst movies ever...and it stars James Franco...as Tommy Wiseau. Strange times we live in, friends.

CONS

• Not as funny as I was expecting or would have liked it to be. I could be alone on this but outside of Wiseau's behavior, there wasn't a whole lot to laugh at
• Dramatic aspects fell somewhat flat for me -- I'm not so sure Wiseau is someone that I really care about 
• For some reason I thought this would have a better original score and/or soundtrack. It's pretty forgettable in that regard

PROS

• Franco's direction and performance show how skilled he really is as an actor, and he can even still be funny. His depiction of Wiseau is surprisingly accurate 
• Brother [Dave] Franco gets a lot of good material here too, and the supporting cast is fun despite their minimal roles
• It is very funny at times and the re-shot scenes straight from The Room are a hoot
• Has a nice message about friendship and chasing one's dreams, even if they don't quite turn out to be what you had expected 

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10