THE DISASTER ARTIST Review — It's a Hit With Staci
The Disaster Artist Review
by Staci Layne Wilson (@StaciWilson)
The Disaster Artist is about aspiring filmmaker Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) and his much-younger best friend Greg Sestero (Dave Franco), who dream of achieving Hollywood stardom. Financed with $6 million of his own money, Wiseau writes, directs and stars in The Room, a much-maligned flop that has become a cult classic.
Wiseau is a real person. At least, we think so. The mysterious maestro is basically this generation’s Ed Wood: eccentric, lovable, irascible, and untalented. His opus was Hollywood’s inside joke for years, but after it was released on DVD and Sestero’s book (“The Disaster Artist”) was published, The Room has become a bonafide and deserving midnight madness movie that all the world can – for lack of a better word – enjoy.
You need not have seen “the Citizen Kane of bad movies” to appreciate Franco’s making-of it. While The Disaster Artist illustrates some of the moments and catchphrases that made The Room so revered, it does so without feeling spoon-fed. The Disaster Artist is totally relatable. It flawlessly captures the caricature-like players, yet has broad appeal because it’s not just about making a movie, it’s about believing in yourself against all odds. And then there’s the power of the bromance. In this case, it’s totally meta because Franco, who also directed, plays Tommy and his brother Dave is Wiseau’s protégé, Greg.
It would be an easy jab to turn Tommy into the butt of the joke – quite literally, since the auteur insisted on a having his backside front-and-center in one of the infamous bedroom scenes – yet Franco turns to tragicomedy to show that there was more going on under Tommy’s dyed-black mop of hair than just dreams of a Tinsel Town takeover.
Seth Rogan is a standout as the long-suffering script supervisor and assistant director of The Room, Sandy Schklair. Forced to deal with a producer and star who can’t hit his marks, doesn’t know even his littlest lines, and won’t give the crew any water, he finds himself at his wit’s end and yet perseveres to the bitter end. Dave Franco is great as the starry-eyed would-be leading man, but it’s James Franco who just might find himself saying, “Oh, hi Oscar” at the Academy Awards.
1 hour 45 minutes
Rated R
Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.
The Disaster Artist Review
by Staci Layne Wilson (@StaciWilson)
