The Disaster Artist
Directed by James Franco
Staring James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Jackie Weaver, Josh Hutcherson, Alison Brie
Reviewed by Michael Dalton
[rating: 4/5]
If they were giving out an award for The Most Philanthropic Director of 2017, James Franco would have to be the frontrunner. His new film The Disaster Artist tells the true story of the making of the worst movie ever made and its such delirious fun, interest in that movie, a so-bad-its-good gem, will in all likelihood transcend its cult status. In 1959 the notorious Ed Wood released Plan 9 From Outer Space, an atrocious science fiction horror hybrid that has long been considered the worst movie ever made. Clunky in every way from the “acting “to the “screenplay” to the not so “special effects” it has since occupied space on more than a few essential film lists. But then in 2003, an unbelievably acted, hysterically melodramatic, did-anyone-even-write-this movie called The Room appeared. Written by, directed by, and starring Tommy Wiseau (along with his muscular buttocks), it featured a cast of amateur actors (often looking as puzzled as the audience) performing a series of scenes with little connection other than all the characters were acquainted and suffered together through life’s challenges. An unbalanced blend of affairs, medical dramas, tantrums, and sex scenes topped with “a devastating finale”, it proved to be the definition of dreadful fun and is now a cult classic that enjoys late night screenings where audience participation is encouraged. Wiseau’s battlecry, “You’re tearing me apart Lisa!!!” is almost as famous a movie line as “I’m ready for my closeup”. Now Franco, clearly the film’s Number One Fan, has directed the ultimate homage. He plays Wiseau (to the hilt) but not for laughs as such. Franco wants us giggling, of course, but with him rather than at him. It is a superb performance (his best), magnetic, weird, and almost sexy.
Wiseau himself looks like a heavy metal vampire. Guarded about his origins and the source of his wealth, his friend and co-star of The Room Greg Sestero (here played anonymously by Franco’s brother Dave) wrote a book on his experiences with Tommy. Adapted skillfully by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, it begins in acting class where Greg sees Tommy “perform” a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire that leaves you wondering why he never joined a circus. It’s a moment and a half and it sets the tone. Greg barely has time to blink before he and Tommy hook up and head off to LA to make their showbiz dreams come true. Greg gets an agent pretty quickly but everywhere Tommy goes the doors close (watch for a riotous scene where he confronts Judd Apatow in a restaurant).
When Tommy gets depressed about the lack of recognition he feels is rightfully his Greg suggests he make his own movie. The resulting screenplay is a hodgepodge of scenes with little connection but such is Tommy’s determination, the cameras are soon rolling. The shoot was fraught with drama. The cameraman Sandy (a thankfully restrained Seth Rogen) pleaded with him to at least observe the rules of continuity (it fell on very deaf ears), the set was a pressure cooker for lack of air conditioning, Tommy’s determination to get naked and deliver a butt shot left the crew gobsmacked, and he needed more than sixty takes to get a few lines right (the result is one of The Room’s more famous scenes). But, as funny as it all is, Franco tempers it with a genuinely respectful edge. There is a scene where he feels Greg has betrayed him and the film veers off into dramatic territory. Franco shades his hero with wounded pride and it’s a prize moment that brings the film up short but he doesn’t linger. He’s determined to bring down the curtain in honour of his namesake so a joyous split screen sequence closes The Disaster Artist with Franco on one side acting out The Room’s most famous scenes and Wiseau, obviously his hero, on the other. Wiseau may not have planned for the success that is now his but Franco did and he’s hit a bullseye. To quote Bart Simpson, “The ironing is delicious”.
