Review of The Disaster Artist (2017) by John P — 27 Dec 2017

It has been said that true camp cannot be made; it can only be found. This may be true, but the Disaster Artist is proof that even if camp can't be made it can be recreated. Because this film perfectly recreates the utter insanity that was The Room, and the even greater insanity that went into its making, and it has so much fun along the way.

The Room was of course one of the worst movies ever made. It's been called the Citizen Cane of bad movies. It's the kind of movie where everything is done wrong, every scene is bafflingly terrible, and you can't begin to fathom why or how it was made. Well The Disaster tells that story, and it is even crazier than you would think.

The adaptation from book to movie would never have worked so brilliantly without James Franco. Many directors and actors could have told you about the insanity that was the making of The Room, either through documentary or dramatization. But Franco fully captures it and reproduces it in all its cringe-inducing glory.

There have been many great examples of character and method acting. George C Scott as Patton. Charlie Chaplin as Hitler. Daniel Day Lewis's entire career. But never have I seen an actor become his character as fully as James Franco does in the role of Tommy Wiseau. He perfectly replicates Wiseau's thick East European accent and bizarre mannerisms. He flawlessly channels every ounce of his oblivious vanity, oiliness, and utter insanity. Looking at footage from this film and the original side by side it's hard to tell which is which. It's kind of unsettling and part of me doesn't want to know what Franco did to get this in character.

I can see why the Franco brothers would be drawn to this material. The Disaster Artist is the story of a man going all out in pursuit of his vision with no idea what he's doing and only the slightest realization that he doesn't know. In Franco's hands Wiseau is a man with so much ambition, enthusiasm, and passion, but absolutely no talent, self-awareness, or common sense- An Ed Wood of the 21st Century. He does things that no normal human being would do, breaks every rule of social interaction. And it is so utterly hilarious, because you know that every thing in this movie actually happened.

This movie blurs the line between good laughs and bad laughs until it becomes practically nonexistent and completely irrelevant. It doesn't matter whether you're laughing because what's on screen is funny and brilliant or because it's awkward and terrible. All that matters is that you're laughing. And you will be laughing. I cannot remember the last time I laughed this hard or this long in a movie theater.

Incredibly, there are some parts that manage to be serious, reflecting the very real tensions that formed during filming. At times I actually feel sorry for the cast of The Room, especially the actress who played Lisa. It must have really sucked to have to film the scenes she did. But she and the others saw it through. As one actress said over lunch "a bed day on set is better than a good day doing anything else. You wouldn't expect a movie like this to have such insight into the nature of acting and the movie biz. And who would have that there could be so much drama over shaving a beard?

You'll get a lot more out of The Disaster Artist if you're familiar with the infamous source material, but even if you've only seen a few YouTube clips it will be a blast. This is one of the best movies of 2017 and by far the funniest. It'll be a real shame if this doesn't win best comedy at the Globes.