Review of The Disaster Artist (2017) by Connor W — 20 Feb 2018

If you haven't seen The Room...well, first of all, you should, but secondly, it's required viewing to understand any of Disaster Artist, which actually made me feel a bit distant from it. It's cute, it's funny, and the cartoony elements just highlight how unreal the Tommy Wiseau story and personality truly are. But it has a bit of the vanity project stink about it? I get the impression this movie was made not for the fans but as James Franco's passion project, and this hits fever pitch during the epilogue with scenes from the original The Room playing directly along Franco's reshoots.

It's also pretty easy to tell what was dramatised for the film, like the scene with Johnny on the rooftop going on for 63 takes, that's probably not what happened. But the joke of "63 takes and that was the best one" is still funny, and the film was still really entertaining, so who really cares? First half is more of the "original story" while the second half has some charm in seeing the guts of the production, sordid as it was. The writing is surprisingly sharp, with Greg's mother's spiel having some sense of comedic irony and fairly inspired invocation of all of Tommy's quirks. I'd probably watch this again with friends who want to delve deeper into the phenomenon of The Room.

Surprised the Nostalgia Critic didn't get a cameo, though, considering he basically made Wiseau's career.