“The Disaster Artist” is So Full of Heart, It Makes You Want to See “The Room”
(8.5/10)
If you’re remotely into movies, you likely would have heard of a film called “The Room” (2003). Written, directed and starring first-time filmmaker named Tommy Wisseau, it has achieved legendary status for its hilarious ineptness. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just do a Youtube search with the keywords “the room rooftop.”
“The Disaster Artist” (2017), starring brothers James and Dave Franco, is a “making of” film about how such an epic disaster came to be. As you can imagine, it’s a very funny story.
But the film isn’t just a lighthearted comedy that pokes fun at the dreadful film. It’s also a human story about a friendship between Wisseau (played by James Franco) and Greg Sestero (played by Dave Franco), who co-starred with Wisseau in “The Room” and wrote a book about the experience, and how it all led to an unexpected Hollywood success story.
The film begins with Sestero and Wisseau in San Francisco, attending the same acting class. There, the reserved Sestero observes Wisseau’s unabashedly over-the-top acting and approaches him to read lines together in the hopes that he can learn something from him.
This becomes a beginning of an unlikely friendship. Sestero eventually moves to Hollywood to live with Wisseau in the hope of breaking out big. The breakthrough never comes for either Sestero or Wisseau, though, so when a famous film producer mocks Wisseau and declares that he’ll not make it in Hollywood in a million years, Wisseau decides he’s going to make his own film. This motivation results in the script for “The Room,” and he asks his friend Sestero to be a part of the project.
What ensues is hilarity as Wisseau bungles through the production. He’s built a set to shoot an alleyway scene even though the same look could have been achieved on-location right outside the studio, in the apparent belief that that’s what Hollywood movies are supposed to do. He also insists that the camera focuses on his naked ass during a bedroom scene, apparently under the impression that that’s what it will take to sell the movie.
Through it all, Wisseau is completely oblivious to the ridiculousness of it all. He deems himself to be a genius filmmaker embarking on the making of the next Hollywood classic, but his demeanor is reminiscent of Leslie Nielson in the Naked Gun series, only funnier because Wisseau is real.
The humor in “The Disaster Artist” goes beyond the scenes in which “The Room” is being filmed. The movie has a lot of fun with Wisseau’s quirky persona. Wisseau insists to everyone that he’s the same age as Sestero and is a native of Louisiana. Both claims are preposterous; he looks couple decades older than Sestero and speaks with such heavy accent that a casting director can’t understand him when he pronounces “Baton Rouge.”
As silly as Wisseau’s antics are, what makes the movie work is in the depth and complexity of his character. On the one hand Wisseau is fearless, unafraid of performing Shakespeare in a café filled with strangers. Yet he’s often insecure, exhibiting jealousy whenever Sestero is with his girlfriend (Alison Brie) or unwilling to allow Sestero to take on a project other than “The Room.” Sestero sticks by Wisseau through the difficult moments because he simply wants to help his friend make a movie. It’s in these moments where the friendship fosters that “The Disaster Artist” is at its best.
Everything comes together in this film, starting with the acting. James nailed the portrayal of Wisseau, in both the accent and the demeanor. You can see the uncanny resemblance in the credits when the scenes from the original “The Room” are played side-by-side with the recreation in “The Disaster Artist.” James also has great chemistry with his brother Dave in their first collaboration together.
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber deserve a lot of credit for writing an Oscar-nominated screenplay that’s equally comedy and drama, but James Franco’s directorial debut deserves the most praise. There is a lot packed into the screenplay, yet Franco navigates through the material effortlessly. Wisseau and Sestero’s friendship, the making of “The Room” and its oddly triumphant release are all given the right amount of attention and care.
I loved “The Disaster Artist” because it has a lot of heart. It makes light of Wisseau’s quirkiness without being cruel. It has fun with the production of “The Room” but gives the cult classic the respect it deserves.
Coming out of the theater, I remembered the funny moments because I laughed a lot but also felt warm inside because of Wisseau and Sestero’s friendship. The film will make you want to watch “The Room,” if only to share in their friendship.
