The Disaster Artist

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2019)

The Room is cited as being the worst movie ever made, possibly even beating Plan 9 from Outer Space (which also got the "making of" treatment with Tim Burton's Ed Wood), many consider it as "so bad, it's good", it mainly because of this critically acclaimed and accoladed movie that I watched it, and I looked forward to seeing the story of how the film came to be, based on the non-fiction by its star Greg Sestero (and Tom Bissell). Basically in 1998 San Francisco, nineteen-year-old Greg Sestero (Dave Franco, James's brother) meets Tommy Wiseau (Golden Globe winning James Franco, also producing and directing) in acting classes, where gives a protracted and bizarre performance of a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire. Greg is impressed by Tommy's fearlessness and the two become friends, Tommy suggests they move to Los Angeles together to pursue acting careers. Greg discovers that Tommy can afford apartments in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, but Wiseau will not discuss his personal life or the source of his wealth. Greg signs with talent agent Iris Burton (Sharon Stone) and regularly attends auditions, while Tommy is consistently rejected by agencies, acting teachers, casting directors and producers. Greg starts dating Amber (Alison Brie), who works at a nightclub, Tommy grows jealous and disheartened, as he continuously fails to find work, and sees less of Greg. Auditions for Greg start to dry up, so he shares his frustrations with Tommy, and jokingly suggests that they should make their own movie, but Tommy takes this seriously and decides to make a movie for them to star in. Tommy writes a screenplay titled The Room, a melodrama about a love triangle between banker Johnny (played by Tommy), his fiancÃ©e Lisa and his best friend Mark, who reluctantly agrees to play this part, and a credit as line producer. Rather than rent production equipment, Tommy insists on buying it all, and shooting the film on 35 mm film and HD Digital simultaneously, and many other costly and unnecessary measures. The employees introduce Tommy to Raphael Smadja (Paul Scheer) and Sandy Schklair (Seth Rogen) who will work as his cinematographer and script supervisor. Production on The Room starts smoothly in 2002, but Tommy is difficult to work with, as he constantly forgets his lines, arrives late, and refuses to supply his crew with basic needs such as cool air and drinking water, causing actress Carolyn Minnott (Jacki Weaver), playing the mother Claudette, to faint. During preparation for a sex scene, Tommy humiliates actress Juliette Danielle (Ari Graynor), playing Lisa, and his insists in being filmed from the back fully nude. During extensive behind-the-scenes footage, Tommy reveals that he knows everybody hates him and believes that nobody, including Greg, supports his vision. Greg and Amber run into actor Bryan Cranston, star of Malcolm in the Middle, who invites Greg to play a small part in a Malcolm episode. The part requires him to have a beard, Greg is due to shave his beard for The Room, he begs Tommy to postpone shooting for this opportunity, but Tommy refuses. On the last day of shooting, Greg accuses Tommy of being selfish and deceitful throughout their friendship and questions his real age and origins, before storming off set. Eight months later in 2003, Greg has split up from Amber and is working in theatre, he is surprised to see Tommy, who invites him to the premiere of The Room, and the entire cast and crew are attending as well. The film begins, with Tommy's awful performance, the terrible script and the poor filmmaking techniques immediately apparent, the audience first reacts with confusion and horror. But slowly, as it continues, they start to find it funny, they cannot help but laugh at the clumsiness and absurdity of it, especially the dire performance of Tommy, Greg cannot help but laugh also, but Tommy bursts into tears and walks out. Tommy is upset that his film is a failure and has gained the reaction he wanted, but Greg comes outside to comfort him, reminding him that he made a movie, and that the laughter proves are having fun and loving it. With renewed optimism, Tommy returns to the theatre as the film ends and the audience is cheering and clapping. Tommy takes credit for his "comedic" movie, and invites Greg onstage to thank him, the pair receive a standing ovation. Real-life clips of Wiseau and Sestero attending screenings of The Room play, the film was reportedly $6 million budget, it made back $1,800 during its initial release. Wiseau kept it running for two weeks to qualify for the Academy Awards, but it has since become a profitable cult movie, while Wiseau and Sestero remain the best of friends, and Wiseau's age, past life, and source of income remains a mystery. Scenes from The Room are then compared side-by-side with re-enactments of the scenes performed by The Disaster Artist's cast. Also starring Josh Hutcherson as Philip / 'Denny', Zac Efron as Dan / 'Chris-R', June Diane Raphael as Robyn / 'Michelle', Megan Mullally as Mrs. Sestero, Jason Mantzoukas as Peter, Andrew Santino as Scott Holmes / 'Mike', Nathan Fielder as Kyle Vogt / 'Peter' and Melanie Griffith as Jean Shelton, with appearances from Kevin Smith, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Kristen Bell, J.J. Abrams and a cameo from Tommy Wiseau as partygoer Henry in the post-credits sequence. James Franco captures the ostentatious and strange nature of Wiseau perfectly, while his brother Dave plays the young wannabe actor who is almost forced to go along with his friend's vision, and Rogen also stands out as the sceptical script supervisor. If you are familiar with The Room, this is an affectionate and eccentric look at how the staggeringly terrible movie was made and became a cult phenomenon, you can also enjoy this is a friendship story, and it will definitely make you laugh for the right reasons (unlike the original movie), you could argue it is celebrating how bad The Room is, a terrific biographical comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Very good!