James Franco’s aka Tommy Wiseau’s unusual laugh still echos in my ears. Simply remembering scenes from the film brings a smile to my face. It is a new type of a movie hybrid – a comedic biography within a biography. While it does play with Wiseau’s accent and unique acting style It doesn’t necessarily mock him but it humanizes him by giving context to his actions. Additionally, because James’s charm translates so well on-screen it becomes hard not to like Tommy too. I think I wanted to be his friend by the end of it.
This also inspired me to see The Room, Wiseau’s debut film, the making of which is pretty much in the centre of this feature as well. FYI it is spectacularly terrible if you watch it as a serious drama but if you enjoy it as a comedy it can actually be quite entertaining, especially the multiple excruciatingly long sex scenes, which are a cross between soft porn and bad 90s music videos with the soundtrack to match.
The film doesn’t just have a clever dialogue but it’s driven by Franco’s fantastic portrayal of the quirky personality of the cult classic’s creator. He shines with genuine comedic talent and broad acting range. Moreover, you can see how much passion he’s had for the project and the lengths he went to for his research considering Tommy’s 99.9% approval of the movie. (The film is actually based on Greg’s version of the events and his book with the same title).
Some critics already predict Oscar nominations but you never know with the stiff competition this year.
The Disaster Artist is almost a coming of age story about the friendship and partnership of Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero, who take LA by storm and after the city of starts rejects them they decide to produce a film on their own. Tommy is this enigmatic actor with undetermined age and origin (despite him claiming to be from New Orleans his European accent gives him away – it is believed that he is actually 62 and from Poznań, Poland btw) with endlessly deep pockets who befriends Greg, begins to mentor him and later sponsors both their move to Los Angeles and their first movie together as he is deemed too ugly and even Frankenstein-like to make it in Hollywood.
Wiseau seems to be pretty much infatuated with Sestero and often acts like a jealous partner, in particular when Greg finds a new girlfriend. The film seems to suggest that “betrayal” inspired him to write the script for The Room hence why the main characters in the project mimic his and other people’s names (instead of Tommy it’s a Johnny). The homo-erotic dynamic possibly adds to the fun-factor as Sestero is being played by Franco Jr. It can be a bit cringy knowing the two brothers have to look like something more than just friends, but James’s facial prosthetic and blue contacts definitely help the viewers forget the two are related.
I generally loved the film, but the one thing that bothered me was the younger Franco. I’m usually a fan of his, but I’m not entirely sure whether he was constantly grinning because that was part of his character or he actually struggled to keep it together and not laugh throughout the whole movie. I truly hope it’s the first option.
On top of the brother duo, the feature boasts quite the star-studded cast. Dave’s wife Alison Brie is Greg’s girlfriend, Seth Rogen is employed as The Room’s script supervisor and Zac Efron and Josh Hutcherson play actors in it. Other big A-listers, who have a memorable cameo, include Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, and Bryan Cranston.
The Disaster Artist is different, light-hearted and hilariously good fun. Give it a few more years and it would hopefully become just as much of a cult classic as The Room. I urge everyone to go and see it and do make sure you stay till the very end, there will be a rewarding surprise.