not engaging enough

Rating: 5/10 (8 March 2018)

The idea of this movie is great. it had the potential to be so much. people were genuinely excited about it. it had james franco.
yet still this movie kind of faltered after an interesting start.
james franco's performace was a little too on the nose. it becomes really apparent when at the end they play side by side comparison shots. it was a little exagerated and though the physical resemblance was uncanny at times, it came off as trying to hard.
while that's the problem with james, which is understandable because the movie was literally going for an element of comedy, the rest of the cast didn't seem to be invested enough in the film. no one else really resembled the people, physically or in mannerism, they were supposed to be playing. so the whole setting was weird where james was in too much character and no one else in enough. the room is the room mainly because of tommy but not just because of him, and that's the point I think they missed.
casting dave franco was also a mistake in my opinion. I think zac efron, who has a cameo btw, should have played his role instead. he just brings that zest, even to a shy under-confident character, that dave failed to do.
so all in all even though it's enjoyable, the disaster artist failed to TEAR ME APART with it's comedy and drama