Fills In The Background

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2017)

I saw "The Disaster Artist", starring James Franco-The Interview, General Hospital_tv; Dave Franco-The Now You See Me movies, Warm Bodies; Ari Graynor-Bad Teacher_tv, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Seth Rogen-The Neighbors movies, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. This is a movie that shows how another movie-The Room-got made. If you have never seen The Room-a 2003 cult movie-I highly recommend you watch it before you see The Disaster Artist and you will enjoy it even more. If you haven't seen it, you can still enjoy this one, but it's just better otherwise. James plays Tommy Wiseau, the eccentric-and that is putting it mildly-actor that meets Dave, playing Greg Sestero, another more normal actor and they become fast friends. Both are struggling to find work and finally decide to just make their own movie, with James/Tommy writing, producing, directing and starring and Dave/Greg co-starring. FYI: This is the first time that James & Dave have made a movie together. When I said James/Tommy was eccentric, besides his acting being over the top, he was very mysterious about himself. When asked where he was from, he would say, New Orleans, and you could tell from his accent that he was European-I later learned it was Poland. He was also evasive about his age-he looked to be in his 40's but said he was in his 20's. He had lots of money but no discernible income-my guess would be inherited. He would laugh at inappropriate moments for no reason. Ari plays the love interest in the movie and Seth is a script consultant. There are lots of cameos, both of James' real life buddies and other actors-I remember seeing Melanie Griffith, Alison Brie, Sharon Stone, Zac Effron and Bryan Cranston-and James directs this movie, which is based on a book written by the real Greg Sestero. Tommy & Greg both make cameos. As the end credits start, they divide the screen, showing scenes of both movies, side by side. And make sure that you stay after the end credits for an extra scene-you won't be disappointed. The movie fills in the background of The Room and how it came to be. It's rated "R" for language and sexual content-including nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 44 minutes. I enjoyed it and would buy it on DVD.