If you do not know the cult classic, "The Room", widely considered to be one of the worst films of all time, do yourself a favor and go watch it. Not "Room", the movie that won Brie Larson her Oscar a few years ago, but "THE Room", the wonderfully bewildering brain child of Tommy Wiseau. Who is Tommy Wiseau? This is where "The Disaster Artist" comes in.
Minor spoilers ahead.
"The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Film Ever Made" is a book written by Greg Sestero, the actor who played Mark in "The Room", which chronicles his time befriending Wiseau and the shaky production of the film. It was adapted by James Franco, who directed, produced, and starred in "The Disaster Artist" with his brother, Dave Franco, portraying Greg Sestero. The film is a rough chronology of Sestero's time from meeting Wiseau to the film's premiere with an epilogue talking about the film reaching cult status amongst movie fans.
I was introduced to "The Room" by way of internet movie critics, specifically Nostalgia Critic. He had done a review of the film while I was in college, and I remember the film being talked about by my friends in the program. I hadn't watched the film myself, but I had already heard about how ridiculously bad it was. Then I watched Critic's review, and was blown away by the sheer amount of awful and out-of-place moments that existed in this movie. I watched the film for myself shortly after, and it's even worse in context. But it's the kind of terrible that you can laugh at and enjoy.
Now, even if you haven't seen the movie, you probably know some of the most iconic lines, like "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!", or "No, I can't. Anyway, how's your sex life?". It is a film littered with plot threads that go nowhere, characters stating their feelings at nauseam, and a lead actor who has no idea what film he is trying to make. Is it meant to be dramatic? Comedic? Artistic?
Luckily, we now have "The Disaster Artist" to give some insight as to who Wiseau is, where he came from, and why he made this movie the way he did. And it's done in such a Wiseau-ian way that it's practically a love letter to the "The Room". Clearly Franco loves this film, it's obvious in his performance of Wiseau, and the style of the film. While there is certainly a mocking tone at the beginning of the film, and a befuddlement at Wiseau's antics throughout, you do come to sympathize with him, even if his aspirations are misguided. Franco initially takes some getting used to as Wiseau, but after about 20 minutes, you forget it's James Franco, and he merges seamlessly with his character. The voice and speech affectations, his mannerisms, his hair and clothing, all of it is spot on, and you become incapable of separating the two. I honestly hope that James Franco receives an acting nomination for this performance, as he truly is what makes this movie work overall.
The film starts with a great montage of actors and film makers who talk about how "The Room" has impacted the medium, one specific line reading, "No one remembers who won the Best Picture that year, but everyone remembers The Room, and is still talking about it to this day". it sets the tone of the film you are about to go into, as it depicts a rollercoaster of events that any rational human being would have avoided based off face value. But this is no ordinary human being. This is Tommy Wiseau.
The Franco brothers have great chemistry together as the awkward but lovable pair who dream of hitting it big in Hollywood, though the longer they stay in LA, the less hope they have of making their mark. The cast and crew of the in-movie film match their counterparts wonderfully, especially Seth Rogan, who also produced this film, playing the script supervisor and de facto director as Wiseau became less reliable during production. They all have great comedic timing, as they have all worked together enough to know each others strengths and weaknesses in this genre, and you get a very clear sense of how stressful, awful, and potentially career-ruining this whole project turned out for some of the people who worked on it. I have some friends from college who went on to work in the film industry, and even they have said that this movie hit on some very real moments on low-budget productions. No food or water provided, no clear vision from the leadership, poor treatment of cast and crew, and bad communication leading to multiple set-backs are very real aspects of low-budget filmmaking. Not all movie making is glamourous.
There is a great moment highlighted in the film, when Wiseau compares his antics and demands as director to the likes of Stanley Kubrick or Alfred Hitchcock, directors who were both known for being uncompromising and relentless to get what they wanted out of the production. The point being: how much do you tolerate if the negative treatment you receive ultimately results in a piece of art adored by the masses? Hitchcock and Kubrick, while both known for their high demands while on-set, are both regarded as masters of filmmaking, some of the best of all time. And, by following that logic and some of the stories from behind the scenes of other films, there are many directors who are wonderful to work with, but end up with mediocre, or even awful, films. The idea being that directors who have a clear vision and artistic voice are most likely to be the hardest to work with. While this is obviously not a universal rule, there are a shocking amount of directors who have reputations for being difficult to work with, but the resulting product is amazing. It certainly is a common thread that artistic vision can sometimes come with a cost. But Wiseau did not have vision when he made his movie.
Wiseau is very clearly a narcissistic, prideful, jealous, and callous man. You don't even need to watch this film to understand that. Just watch his movie, or interviews he's done. He so desperately wants to be regarded as wonderful and amazing, going so far as to lie about his place of birth, his age, how he came into money, - all of which are questions asked throughout the film, which we are never given concrete answers to - but brags about how "handsome", "talented", and "wise" he is, and I put those in quotations because he believes those things, but no one else does. Even Greg, who despite staying friends with Wiseau, even after he potentially sabotages career opportunities for him in a jealous rage, is aware that Tommy is just Tommy.
The film's visual style is great, mirroring aspects of "The Room" in aesthetic, and feeling like an indie project, despite being made by some of the most famous names in Hollywood, and including cameos by even more A-listers (there are a lot of cameos in this movie, and they are all wonderful). The film is shot almost entirely handheld, and has a very brisk editing pace, I think to get to the filming of the movie as quickly as possible, as that is what most people were probably interested in seeing. The single best moment for me in the movie is the scene in which they shoot the infamous, "It's not true! I didn't hit her! It's bullshit! I did not hit her! I did naaaaat.... Oh, hi Mark" sequence. It is Tommy's first filming scene in the movie as Johnny, and they shoot it so many times to try and get it "right", but they realize that once he is just able to the get the line out, they can see this is a failed project, and they will take what they can get. Going forward, they get things in one or two takes, rather than 100 takes that ultimately all fail to capture any sense of humanity. The crew is so fed up by the 30th take, that they all repeat the line to Wiseau in a group chant that sounds almost hypnotic, in hopes he can just say the lines, in the right order, regardless of how it is performed. It is a beautifully hilarious moment and sets the tone for the rest of the production of the film. I'm glad that the movie had a relatively brisk pace, and it didn't sit too long stewing in it's own pretentiousness, rather lavishing in the stories and shenanigans that occurred on set.
The concerns I have with the film are fairly minor. One being the condensing of time in the end of the film, as they push Wiseau's acceptance of the film's "comedic" status right of the bat, which was not the case. It took years between when the film was released to theaters, and when it became the love of the internet, and only after the many midnight screenings did Wiseau come around to the idea of promoting the film as a comedy. I understand why they condensed that timeline, but it almost too neatly wraps up a very messy story. My other concern was the lack of the real Greg Sestero in the final film. Apparently, he had shot a few scenes, making a cameo, but it was ultimately cut out of the film. I would have appreciated if they could have included him in some other role, as it was his experiences and accounts that this film is largely based on. Though Tommy Wiseau does make a cameo in a Marvel-style end-credit sequence, and it is wonderful. It's a great nod from Wiseau that he does have at least some sense of humor about himself, and doesn't take all this stuff too seriously.
The film is a great reflection of a beautiful disaster of a film, it's creator, and the creative process. Movies are not made just by one person and their vision. It is a team of people who are all passionate and share a love for what they do and the industry they work in. "The Disaster Artist" is made with love for the film making process, and that even bad movies have a place in the lexicon of our culture. Even if a film is laughably bad, it has provided a form of entertainment and escapism, which is part of the reason we go to the movies, and this film celebrates that.
Final Score: 9/10
I would obviously recommend this movie to anyone who has seen and loves the ridiculousness of "The Room". I've heard from friends and other critics that it is not necessary for you have seen the movie prior to going and seeing this, as you can get by on your passing knowledge of the movie. But if you want to see "The Room", do so with a group of friends, a bottle of liquor, and a great sense of humor. And as a side note, I really hope that there exists a final cut shot-for-shot remake of "The Room" with these actors, as there are enough scenes in this film to imply that they may have shot the entire thing. Even if it's just a bonus feature on the blu-ray, I will take it!