From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie The Disaster Artist released in 2017.
Starring:
James Franco, Dave Franco, Ari Graynor
Directed by:
James Franco
Genre:
Biography, Comedy, Drama
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
R
Budget:
$10,000,000 (estimated)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
7.4
The Synopsis is:
This is an adaptation of the non-fiction book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell published in 2013.
So let’s quickly recap the origin of the book.
The Room is a movie released in 2003 produced, directed and starring Tommy Wiseau in which Greg Sestero played the part of Mark. In the film, Johnny and Lisa are happily engaged, until one night Lisa decides she is bored with Johnny and wants to ruin his life by sleeping with his best friend Mark.
The film was meant to be a dramatic tragedy, but there are so many problems with the film, that it became a hilarious comedy of errors.
The Room got little to no traction when it was released in 2003, but much of the film’s legacy was due to the fact that word of mouth about a hilariously bad movie began circulating around film lovers and the film industry.
The Cartoon Network's, Adult Swim stopped their regular programing to air a censored version of the film on April Fools' Day from 2009 to 2011.
The film continued to gain notoriety for being a bad film with a great deal of entertainment value with a growing cult following that the film community began interviewing both Greg and Tommy about decisions made in the movie to try to make sense of it.
The idea for the book came to Greg after appearing on the podcast, How Did This Get Made, episode #23 on November 15th, 2011, hosted by comedians Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas, who all appear as characters in the Disaster Artist. Greg Sestero had incredible insights to share on that podcast, which inspired the book and this movie.
The book was critically acclaimed and soon adapted into a movie by James Franco and Seth Rogan. James Franco signed up to star, direct and even co-write the screenplay. Accompanied by much excitement and hype from the film’s marketing, the Disaster Artist was one of the most anticipated films of 2017.
Even though Tommy Wiseau thought that the book was about 40% true, he gave his full blessing for the movie. In fact, at some point, Greg Sestero said that Tommy claimed that the only two people who could ever play him in a movie were, James Franco and Johnny Depp.
And viola! Here we have James Franco ready to play him in a film. Coincidently James played Tommy’s acting idol, James Dean in the James Dean television movie biopic released in 2001. So dare I say, this was meant to be!
Upon seeing the film and watching all of the hype before the film was released, I got the sense that this was a special project for James Franco who seemed to be mesmerized by Tommy Wiseau, as were we all.
He transformed himself with hair and makeup to look like Tommy as much as possible and set out to duplicate the Tommy experience throughout the production by speaking in the same mysterious accent and displaying the mannerisms even off camera. He did however, make decisions and directed the cast and crew as James would normally do, simultaneously.
He had a hard time letting go of Tommy’s accent after filming, and can even be seen doing the accent during interviews promoting the film.
James’ brother Dave Franco played Greg Sestero. Many were dubious about the choice given the height difference between Dave and Greg. However, Dave knocked it out of the ball park capturing Greg’s gentle tone of voice and natural sense of innocence in the situation.
This was the first time the brothers James Franco and Dave Franco appeared on-screen together and a third brother, Tom Franco also made a cameo in the film in a small role.
The cast list was a Hollywood who’s who list, such as, Zac Efron, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Zach Braff, Bryan Cranston, Kevin Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Kristen Bell, and J.J. Abrams, just to name a few.
The film recounts Greg’s experiences trying to make it as a young actor in Hollywood and how he meets Tommy. The story becomes Tommy’s story told from Greg’s perspective, but it seems to have a little more added liberties to help us understand Tommy’s perspective too.
It’s trippy watching this film, knowing that it is a biopic of a movie. The Room has been parodied in every way imaginable. Having a laugh at the movie is one thing, but I was hoping that it was not going to be a maliciously hurtful kind of thing where everyone comes together to make fun of Tommy.
I just can’t support anything like that, and I am happy to say that the film is respectful to Tommy. The film flushes him out as a full character, good or bad, villain or hero. He is played as a lonely dreamer with ambition and heart. He’s human. In this story we can find the thing that binds us all together, the need for love, acceptance and friendship.
Greg and Tommy are total opposites, so it seems so strange that they would become friends. Yet they did and the film really gives us some insight into their rocky and complex union. Without experience, but driven, somehow Tommy wrote a screenplay and had a dream to see them both starring in a movie together. He did not want to do it alone. That says a lot about his character.
Tommy's motivation for nearly everything he does in the film, rational or not is about experiencing the fantasy of simply being accepted. Truthfully, how many of us are seeking that right now?
As for his decisions on set, let’s be realistic. It is very hard to make a good film, especially if it is the first film you’ve ever made. Even with the best intentions, directors, producers, money, actors, and technology we have seen time and time again that none of those things matter to the success or quality of a film. Even a good script can get hacked in the process of making a film. It’s not easy.
You really feel the disappointment of seeing how the audience responded to Tommy’s film affected him so deeply. It hurt him a lot. What I admire about Tommy is that he took that disappointment and embraced it. Some may call it delusional, but it’s also a coping mechanism that has been working for him.
The only thing that I felt was missing from the film was that sense of closure between 2003 and the present day. It would have been really cool to see how the cult following of The Room slowly grew over the years.
However, the film creates a wonderful montage nicely placed during the credits of scenes that were painstakingly created to the minute detail. It was a fascinating treat and the artistry was definitely appreciated.
The Disaster Artist had a standing ovation, after its premiere and got many awards and positive reviews.
This movie brings to the screen the struggle of so many thousands of people who are on the outskirts of the movie industry. Greg and Tommy did not make their fame in the industry the traditional way in Hollywood, but slowly over 15 years after The Room and through the humble and graceful service of the fans of the film, through endless viewings, discussions and interviews. This film was a fine tribute to their struggle.
My Rating:
8.6
That sums up my quick spoiler free review. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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