Review of The Disaster Artist (2017) by Dana F — 27 May 2018

"The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness". This is one of my favorite movie quotes (from Bull Durham), and there is no better tagline for this movie. It's a celebration of how true fearlessness and a total lack of self-awareness can take you places.

.. maybe not the places you intend, but someplace spectacular nonetheless. For the uninitiated, this movie is about the making of "The Room", which has been dubbed as "the best worst movie ever made".

It's so bad it's good, and has since become a cult classic akin to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with midnight showings across the country and special appearances by its eccentric writer/director, Tommy Wiseau.

It's a testament to that movie's cultural significance that James Franco (an almost equally eccentric filmmaker) was inspired to make this movie about its creation. While the story is ostensibly about the making of "The Room", it's really about the bizarre but heartfelt friendship between the mad genius Wiseau (played by Franco) and his friend/costar Greg Sestero (played by Franco's brother Dave).

Franco himself is really the shining star of the film, it is clear that making this movie was a labor of love for him. His impression of Wiseau is impeccable, and he achieves the challenging task of making a weird and generally unlikeable person a sympathetic character.

As director, he devotedly recreates the scenes from "The Room" with precise attention to detail to make sure they are just right. The movie has a B-movie feel to it, which is appropriate for the subject matter, but I'm not sure if it was intentional or not.

.. it's a lower budget film, but no budget is low enough to justify those terrible wigs. All of that being said, I have to say I was a tad disappointed... but that's probably because I had high expectations.

Yes, it's good and I enjoyed it, but it's not the hilarious genius of a film that I thought it would be (and as its 91% Tomatometer score suggests). While it's definitely funny at times, it's more of a drama than a comedy.

And you really have to have seen "The Room" to fully appreciate it - I would recommend watching them back to back. But ultimately, it's the inspiration for this movie that will stand the test of time.

.. Years from now, people will still be talking about "The Room", and no one will even remember "The Disaster Artist".