Review of The Disaster Artist (2017) by Thequietgamer — 10 Aug 2018

Made by James Franco and involving all of his usual Seth Rogen related cohorts, I was expecting The Disaster Artist to be a straight up mockery of The Room and it's creator. As it turns out, apparently Franco stumbled upon the real heart of the story while digging through all the behind-the-scenes information on the best worst movie ever made and instead chose to make his film about the unlikely friendship that made it all happen in the first place.

On top of directing and producing, Franco even stars as ol' Tommy Wiseau himself. His accent is actually really good and he expertly manages to capture so many of Wiseau's distinctive quirks. The laugh in particular is spot-on. He never plays it like he's making fun of the guy. Instead choosing to let Wiseau's humanity be the main focus of his embodiment.

The Disaster Artist never derides The Room for laughs. It's comedy comes from knowing winks like Franco's intentional overplaying of the "NAAHT" in one of the source material's most memorable lines, as well as the natural reactions one would have when being presented with Wiseau's unorthodox behavior and approach to filmmaking. It's all much more heartfelt than one might expect.

The casting of Dave Franco as Greg Sestero was a good choice. On top of just looking more like a brother to Greg than he ever did to James, Dave's role as the second leading man lends more credibility to the friendship at the movie's core by allowing the Franco's to play off of their natural connection as brothers. It's the first time I've ever come close to liking little Not James.

The Disaster Artist is the best way to experience The Room. You get to witness a lot of it's most memorably, wonderfully terrible moments without the shame of having actually watched it. All of the joy, none of the regret. Certain gags might not have the same effect, but they'll still prove to be plenty hilarious. Plus it stands on it's own as a surprisingly sweet and sincere film with a magnetic central performance from James Franco. So you don't need to have seen it's inspiration to enjoy what this movie has to offer.

9.