Offensive

Rating: 3/10 (22 August 2018)

I'm not exactly sure, but I think this movie was supposed to be funny. IMDB classifies it as a comedy (as well as a drama). The making of the picture involved a lot of comedian type actors (e.g. Seth Rogan). And it was nominated for a lot of non-Oscar awards in comedy categories. So, I guess it was a comedy, and I do remember that I chuckled once or twice.
But I did not find this movie funny. Instead I felt curiously awkward, like being made to watch someone humiliate themselves for no real purpose. When I did laugh, I had to force myself to cut it short because instead of seeing things as an expression of humor, I found them pathetic and downright embarrassing. This is the kind of thing people try to forget and hide from others, not something you want people to appreciate and laugh at.
I admit, though, that this might just be me - if you enjoy the kind of humor that is often at someone else's expense then you might just love this movie. I suppose it follows a tradition of movies based on finding humor in people who really have scraped the bottom of the barrel. Maybe there is value in that, and I'm just to obtuse to see it.
Let me explain a bit. (Oh, and this is a true story...)
In the late nineties a strange man named Tommy Wiseau befriends a younger man, Dave, who shares an interest in acting. They decide to move to Los Angeles and pursue careers in the movie industry. The younger man, who is also much better looking, actually scores a success or two and even finds a girl friend, while Tommy, who really does have serious personality, not to mention language, issues completely strikes out on all fronts.
Inexplicably, Tommy has money, lots of it. And so he gets the brilliant idea of writing, producing, and acting, with Dave, in a movie of his own creation. That he is passionately dedicated to the idea is an understatement. That he has absolutely no idea what he is doing is also an understatement. But because Tommy is rich, he is able to move forward, and with obvious determination, actually succeeds in bringing his movie to the screen. "The Room" has its screen debut in 2003. Although it cost more than $6 million to make, it took in a whopping $1800 on opening weekend. Tommy, however, bought out the theater for a full two weeks so that it would be eligible for Oscar nominations.
That The Room is a bad movie is another understatement. The Disaster Artist reproduces many of those scenes and lets just say that this is not a movie that anyone, except those with lots of time to waste, will spend money to see. The Metacritic score for The Room is a 9 (out of 100) and is the lowest score for any movie I have ever read about. It is so bad, that it has become a Saturday midnight cult film.
I kid you not, "The Room" is a real movie - you can even rent the DVD from Netflix!. And, unfortunately, The Disaster Artist is also a real movie. The screenplay was nominated for an Oscar. James Franco, the actor who plays Tommy Wiseau, won the Golden Globes award for an actor in a musical or comedy for his performance, and the movie itself was nominated for best picture at the Golden Globes. Whereas nobody really treats "The Room" as anything remotely credible, the Disaster Artist, which tells the story of how The Room was made, is actually viewed as a serious work of art.
The Disaster Artist screenplay was written by the team of Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber. These two writers are fairly young and have worked together primarily on romantic comedies. They wrote 500 Days of Summer, Spectacular Now, and Fault in Our Stars, all of which have received various minor awards from groups such as the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. The only movie of theirs to be recognized more globally was the Golden Globe nomination for 500 Days of Summer. My point is only that this team, and this movie, is playing in the minor leagues.
There are occasional lines in the movie that might actually be considered funny. But for the most part, the major reaction one gets is a deep-seated feeling of profound embarrassment for Mr. Wiseau.
And that leads to an important indictment for those who made this movie. I was reminded, while writing this review, of the fact that the small-minded and morally deficient President once made fun of a disabled reporter. I have the exact same reaction to this movie, that I had towards Trump: Mr. Wiseau needs some help. He doesn't need a full length movie advertising his personality flaws. And he certainly doesn't need to be made fun of.