The Disaster Artist

photo courtesy of davestrailerpage.co.uk

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     James Franco stars in The Disaster Artist, a dramedy that tells the story behind what is often called the best worst movie ever made (2008’s The Room, a real movie). Franco plays Tommy Wiseau, the movie’s highly eccentric and passionate creator, who moves to LA with his best friend Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) to pursue a career in acting. When the two friends begin to run out of options, they decide to make a movie of their own. Financed by Tommy’s mysterious and seemingly unending resources, The Room begins to take (awkward) shape, but making an American masterpiece—and maintaining friendship amidst the pressures of Hollywood—prove to be harder than either Tommy or Greg realize.

     When I heard that James Franco was signed on to create a movie about The Room, I naturally assumed it was going to be some sort of stoner comedy, and the involvement of Dave Franco and Seth Rogen, who plays The Room’s script supervisor, didn’t help. But while The Disaster Artist is, partly, a comedy, it’s anything but reckless. Instead of simply making fun, Franco uses the platform to provide a thoughtful, reverent, and ultimately tragic homage to one of cinema’s strangest figures.

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     And Tommy Wiseau certainly is strange. Equal parts enigmatic, fervent, and pathetic, Wiseau makes for a vexing main character, and his position at the center of The Disaster Artist produces storytelling that’s just as zealous and just as uncomfortable as the man himself. Of course, none of that would be possible without a dynamite performance in the lead role, and Franco provides just that; his transformation into Wiseau is so complete that Franco himself seems to get lost somewhere in the process.

     Franco’s dedication to the role, along with the involvement of a ridiculous number of Hollywood A-listers in bit parts and cameos, lends a kind of bizarre irony to the proceedings. On one hand, the movie feels incredibly sincere, telling a heartfelt (and sort of meta) story about the pursuit of dreams, about the ways in which people settle for less, about what it means to accomplish a dream, and about the importance of friendship. On the other hand, it confidently acknowledges the absurdity of its subject. The Room is, after all, a disaster, and there’s a sort of “can’t look away” factor to some of The Disaster Artist’s best scenes. At times, that dichotomy makes the whole movie seem like some sort of cosmic joke.

photo courtesy of ew.com

     To put it more favorably, The Disaster Artist exists in a place of tension—between the romantic pursuit of a dream and the disillusioning knowledge that it won’t be accomplished, between sentimentality and realism—and that tension provides the movie’s emotional core. Perhaps it’s the movie’s honest willingness to engage those disparate elements (not unlike last year’s hit, La La Land) that makes The Disaster Artist far more compelling and genuine than it has any right to be.

     A few practical questions that might be helpful for potential viewers: Do you need to see/know about The Room to enjoy The Disaster Artist? I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt, but no, the movie does a pretty good job of inducting newcomers into the club. Does The Disaster Artist earn its R-rating? Yep, for plenty of language and nearly-full-frontal nudity from Franco in one scene. Fair warning. 

Watch the trailer here. 

photo courtesy of splitsider.com