Talk about meta

Rating: 7/10 (24 January 2018)

A movie about the making of another movie that has now reached cult status for how bad it is, The Disaster Artist shows what kind of man Tommy Wiseau was. And the painted picture is both endearing and terrifying. A middle aged East European immigrant that in a bad heavily accented English claims he is twenty something and comes from New Orleans, he has enough money to own apartments in major US cities and buy the equipment needed to make a movie in which he would write, direct and play the main role. And he does it all with a childish enthusiasm that is completely separated from reality or the emotions of the people around him.
The Room, the movie this film is about, is really bad. I mean Birdemic is a masterpiece of screenplay and acting in comparison. It is so bad that the scenes about the making of it are cringeworthy. But James Franco directed and acted in a realistic portrayal of what happened and it truly does take talent to reenact the scenes as in the original movie. He is a tragicomic Wiseau and went so far into the role that I had difficulty remembering how the real person looked like.
Bottom line: if you at least enjoy the concept of the film The Room, you will like this film. If you have not heard of it, it is somehow in the vein of Ed Wood, the movie with Johnny Depp. While watching it I had visions of a reinterpretations of the events in a form similar to Shadow of the Vampire or Man from Earth. It would certainly explain Tommy's behavior, shady origin and infinite finances.