2017

Director: James Franco

Genre: Comedic biography

For a moment, I thought I had already reviewed The Room, but then I realized the only good bad movies I've talked about are Troll 2 and Samurai Cop. Actually reviewing The Room feels redundant at this point. All the best scenes are too well known, and everything has been said already. To put this a different way, when at first I thought I already made a review, it turns out "I did naaaat. Oh hi Mark."

Oh, and by the way, I just found out I have breast cancer.  Maybe I need to put on a tuxedo and play some football. It's fun to quote The Room.

Everyone should just watch The Room instead of The Disaster Artist. 

I did not like this movie at all. I'd even say I hated it.

So here's your chance to pull a Tommy Wiseau and stop reading. Call me wrong and say my opinion doesn't matter because you enjoyed this film. I'm not trying to rag on you. If you liked the movie, that's great! I like a bunch of movies other people hate, so I get it. 

If you're still here, I am going to try and explain as clear as I can, why this movie was bad. This might be a long review...

Firstly, I have read the book: The Disaster Artist. I loved the book so much I think I read it all in one day, and then instantly bought The Room and watched it. This movie claims to be an adaptation of the book, but that's a lie. 

The book is written by Greg Sestero, who stars in The Room alongside Tommy Wiseau. The story he tells is of how he became friends with Tommy, the disastrous production of The Room, and Greg's personal thoughts and interpretations of who Tommy Wiseau is. I didn't expect the film to get as emotional or as dark as the book got, but I thought the movie would at least be entertaining. 

All everyone is talking about with this movie is James Franco's performance. I definitely think he nailed the voice, and got a lot of the mannerisms right. But… he didn't feel like Tommy. It felt like an impression of Tommy. He didn't play the part seriously, and it felt like he was holding back his laughter during many line readings. He played Tommy as a bit of a joke, instead of showing us the disturbing human being Tommy really is. 

Tommy Wiseau is not a good person. He's obsessed with his own emotional state, does not care about anyone in his life, treats his actors and crew horribly, and exists in his own world where the film he made is a dark comedy. 

The Disaster Artist is Tommy Wiseau. The film is obsessed with this horrible person. It doesn't care about the fans of the book and isn't interested with telling the story Greg wrote. It populates every scene with celebrity cameos. And it turns a complex story into a boring simplistic comedy. 

I'm bitter. This film lied to me. Tommy did not immediately go up on stage and claim he made a comedy at the premiere of The Room. Greg was never approached by Bryan Cranston and offered a role in a TV show. Greg did not actually believe The Room would be a good movie; he was making it because of his friendship with Tommy, and for money. Tommy did not write the line "She ended up in a hospital on Geurrero street"; that was improvised by Greg and Tommy laughed nervously because that was the street Tommy lived on in San Francisco. People on the set of the Room were not asking the same questions as the fans would later ask (the woman playing Lisa's mother did not directly confront Tommy and ask him if her cancer would ever come into play later). That's because the people on set were angry and mistreated. They didn't care about the integrity of the story because they were continuously upset with Tommy. They went along with the making of the film because they were being paid. The theater did not erupt into laughter at the premiere. People hated the film and it was only later that the film found a cult audience and grew in popularity. Greg was already a working actor when Tommy asked him to be in The Room. The movie wasn't his first acting role. Tommy rarely visited his apartment in LA, and he did not make Greg read the script in front of him at a restaurant. Greg read the script alone, he felt the story was somewhat of a cry for help from Tommy, and he refrained from saying anything bad because he thought Tommy would kill himself. But I guess the filmmakers didn't want any emotional moments in the film. It's easier to just laugh at how silly Tommy's voice sounds coming out of James Franco's mouth. 

Do you see what I mean about the makers of the film not caring about people who read and enjoyed the book? It's not just that they left stuff out, they kept presenting me with false realities. 

This movie has no style, no interesting visuals, and no impactful scenes. The direction is boring and dull. Here's how every scene plays out: Wide shot -> over the shoulder shot -> over the shoulder reverse shot -> end the scene by cutting back to the wide shot. The movie feels so flat and uninteresting. The editing is extremely basic, and none of the framing or blocking enhanced the comedy. 

This movie should not have had Tommy Wiseau as the main character. What I'm about to say is very ironic, since so many characters say the same thing in the movie, but Tommy should be playing the villain. That's the story in the book. Greg is just trying to become an actor, and Tommy is sabotaging his life and manipulating him. But what makes the story interesting is that Greg is aware of this fact. Is Greg friends with Tommy because he genuinely likes Tommy as a person? Does Greg feel pity toward Tommy? Or is Greg just a very loyal person in general? It's unclear in real life, but the film portrays Greg as an idiot, who thinks this movie could be good, and only lashes out at Tommy during certain moments that feel out of place.

I think an interesting story is of an actor continuing to act in a film even though he knows it will be one of the worst things ever made. I think looking at such a unique person like Tommy Wiseau through the lens of someone who is a relatable, simple guy is interesting. I think seeing the horrors of a terrible film production is interesting. The Disaster Artist doesn't show any of this. It puts its focus on Tommy, tries to show him as a fearless and naive person who just wants to make it in Hollywood. The movie just sets up Tommy in scenes where he can say weird things, and the audience can laugh. 

Okay. Fuck. I've wrote way too much. I could go on, but I feel like you get the point. So let me wrap this up with some final thoughts. 

Don't watch The Disaster Artist. Watch The Room, or read Greg's book. This movie serves no purpose. It betrayed me. It made me fed up with this world. I want to confront it on a roof and demand my money back. And to sum up my overall feelings, I'd say it is tearing me apart. Lisa. 

⭐️