The Disaster Artist (2017)

The Disaster Artist is a movie made as a biography of another movie, The Room from 2003, a stinker that apparently became a cult movie because it was so bad. I didn't see the original, and I'm not planning to, as to me The Disaster Artist is a weak movie about an even weaker movie so what's the point of watching the other one? James Franco plays Tommy Wiseau, the director/writer/actor from The Room, a weird guy that wants to look excentric but in fact is just a random weirdo not worth mentioning. The character is annoying to watch, I don't say James Franco didn't a good job playing him, he probably did a good job imitating a boring guy. The story isn't funny, and isn't good enough to waste your time with it. Weird can be good but in this case it just isn't.

Having watched and enjoyed the room for all its cringey glory, I was curious to see what the disaster artist had to offer. It seems that's James franco performances are normally hit or miss and this is definitely a hit. He truly carries the film along side his brother with James immersing himself in the character of Wiseau. I like how the movie focused on developing him as a character rather than just a caricature of himself. Admittedly, I doubt know much of the character that David Franco played, but his character seemed very flat and simply a spectator in the story. The only major gripe I had about the movie was that the ending was very corny and out of place. Knowing that the initial reaction to a film of this quality would be confusion and disappointment, it seemed out of place for all the audience to start laughing. It seemed like a very rushed and sudden ending that may be a sign of an inexperienced Franco directing.

This movie and the acting received some acclaim during the most recent awards season. My wife chose to skip it but I watched it at home on DVD from our local public library. James Franco produced and plays the lead role of Tommy Wiseau, who says he is from New Orleans but appears to be a naturalized US citizen originally from Poland.Wiseau famously made "The Room" in 2003, a movie with an average IMDb rating of 3.6 with highly skewed voting, 23% "10" votes and 37% "1" votes, and is widely considered a disaster. Or as some say "the best worst movie ever made." Wiseau spent $6Million of his own money which itself is unexplained.So this movie is mostly about that, how Wiseau decided to use his own funds to make the movie he wrote, starring himself. The writing is poor, the acting is poor, but it was made with great sincerity. Clips of many scenes are easily available in online videos. James Franco is really superb as Tommy, as well as his brother Dave Franco as Tommy's friend and fellow actor, Greg. It is a very oddball movie but also excellent, I enjoyed it thoroughly. As an big bonus, after the credits start there are a series of scenes showing the original side-by-side with the same scenes in this movie.

While I can't really claim to be much of a fan of "The Room", and only having seen it once, then it was actually good fun to watch "The Disaster Artist". And it was fun to get a deeper insight into how "The Room" came around to be, and have a look at whom the people were behind the characters.James Franco was doing an amazing job as Tommy Wiseau, and his performance really carried the movie quite nicely. Actually, I will say that James Franco really nailed the performance here and captured the essence, mannerisms and mimics of Tommy Wiseau phenomenally well.I am sure that "The Disaster Artist" will do quite well, and add to the cult legacy that is "The Room".Aside from James Franco then they also had a great ensemble of supporting cast and cameo appearances which added spice to the movie.While "The Disaster Artist" certainly was entertaining, I doubt that I will return to watch it a second time. Why? Well, the movie just didn't seem to have enough contents to support multiple viewings.