Good Try at Satire - The Disaster Artist

Rating: 6/10 (4 July 2020)

James Franco is like a major league baseball slugger who is in a slump. Most of the time he strikes out; but occasionally, he hits a long one. I have seen him do good work, and, at other times, waste his talent. This film, however, is a courageous attempt at satire that almost works. This is "The Producers" without the talented cast and scriptwriters. However, it is not fair to compare it to one of the best comedies of all time, because it is nowhere nearly as good.
It is not as startling as a Borat movie; who is the king of satire in the 21st century (along with the Coen Brothers). Let's just give this effort what it deserves; a thumbs up for a very good try, and an amusing turn for Franco as a versatile actor. For someone obsessed with James Dean, Franco is relatively reserved most of the time. I think the director in the beginning of the film hit the nail on the head, when she said people just don't go for the "poor puppy dog" acting approach that Franco often falls back upon. This satire of a rich filmmaker almost totally bereft of any acting talent making a film that makes no sense at all is fairly amusing, however, the hollow ending detracts from the film's success. A better ending would have been suicide. There is no way this could become a cult film because of the pat ending. Anyway, good try James.