written by Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Quick rundown for those not in the know: In 2003, an enigmatic weirdo named Tommy Wiseau released his directorial debut, a strange, inept drama titled The Room, in which an obvious director surrogate - of course played by Wiseau himself - has his life fall apart as everyone he knows "betrays" him. The film, which played in an extremely limited run, was soon the target of mockery, and gained a sizable cult following over the years in large part due to internet popularity and ironic midnight screenings. Ten years later, actor Greg Sestero, who played a key role in Wiseau's film, collaborated with a journalist on a memoir regarding the production of the film, featuring numerous stranger-than-fiction details, and now we're here, with a film adaptation.
When The Disaster Artist works best, it's emphasizing Wiseau's secretive past and the surrealism of the filming process, and much of its humour comes from the astonishing strangeness of its real story. It's filled with great performances and some fairly solid comedic timing, and particularly in its energetic second half, the film is genuinely riveting. But Franco and his writers have no perspective on Wiseau, and despite emphasizing many of the dark edges in this real-world story, the film settles on an upbeat, self-congratulatory tone which at once feels like a mismatch for the material and like bland self-congratulation. The Disaster Artist, as entertaining as it can be, only occasionally recognizes the real value in this story, and its ultimate positivity feels undeserved.
Greg (Dave Franco) is an aspiring actor who finds his big break when he meets Tommy (James Franco), a weirdo from his acting class who is soon revealed to have far more wealth than Greg would have ever expected. Despite Johnny's eccentricity, the two form a solid friendship, and travel to Hollywood to make their dreams come true.
Getting through the first half of The Disaster Artist is a chore. For a long while, the story revolves around Greg and Tommy's friendship, and while there are definitely weird details in this half, they're smothered by the upbeat tone, which slathers on follow-your-dreams cliches and slides past all of the actual tough questions brought up by Tommy's clouded past. Perhaps the film should be admired for not applying unsubtle irony like it might have in other hands, but it's not nearly funny enough to get away with that. Throughout the entire first half, the humour consists overwhelmingly of cringe-comedy and awkward mannerisms, and the few of these which are even initially funny quickly wear out their welcome.
However, it's hard not to admire James Franco's performance, which captures all of Wiseau's bizarre tics and keeps the film largely watchable until it actually picks up. On one or two occasions he exaggerates these peculiarities, but for the most part he successfully maintains Wiseau's indeterminate accent and strange speech patterns without calling attention to them. His supporting cast, including Dave but also Ari Graynor as lead actress Juliette, and others such as Paul Scheer, Zac Efron, and Seth Rogen as other members of Wiseau's team. Each of them maintains an authentic and funny incredulity in response to Wiseau's unpredictable behaviour, and in many cases that's all that's needed.
It takes a good half of the film before Wiseau actually begins making his film, but when that part finally begins, the narrative tempo increases and the absurdity and humour become much stronger. Most of the credit belongs to the performances and the real-world absurdities depicted, but the script has a sharp pace which successfully underlines all of Wiseau's eccentricities, and further highlights his avarice, paranoia, and abusive attitude as well as his increasingly unhinged behaviour. Immediately preceding Wiseau scripting The Room, the film invites us to feel sympathy for his failures to begin a Hollywood career, but wisely, it backs off from this perspective once Wiseau is placed in a position of power, instead leading us to identify more with his baffled and increasingly unhappy crew.
It's in that perspective that The Disaster Artist gains most of its energy, and watching such a well-performed account of such startling absurdity is thrilling while it lasts. Unfortunately, the film never provides much insight into Wiseau or anything which enabled him, and while it might never have been able to, it's unfortunate that the film chooses to celebrate him instead. Since the initial failure of his movie, he's attempted to spin it as an intentional comedy, and has gained much success from this film in the years following. When you see how poorly he treated his cast and crew, not to mention his obvious lack of talent, it's hard not to feel this outcome is something of an injustice.
Franco's film, unfortunately, ends on an inspirational note of Greg and Tommy finally achieving their dreams, and even if celebrating Wiseau weren't a dubious proposition, it's very much at odds with the film's approach of the previous hour. Once we've seen the depths Tommy has sunk to, it's hard to be happy that he was able to find unintended success, and the cliched "what happened next" title cards at the end only make this feel more inappropriate. As a consequence, the film appears confused about its opinion of Wiseau, and its overriding theme isn't much more than a cult following congratulating its own existence. Frankly, it's not a good look.
That lack of perspective is the biggest issue with The Disaster Artist, a film which is happy to expose the weird, horrific events of its true story but is afraid to properly condemn them; a film which coasts largely on great acting and one particularly excellent impression. You can tell that the everyone involved loves The Room, especially in an unexpected pre-credits sequence which I won't spoil, but that love has clouded their judgment, and while the film is entertaining for a long stretch in its second half, that first half is a slog, and it's all soured by the narrative's confused thematic arc. Were more than half of it good, that last point might not have been as much of an issue, but when half of the movie is boring and the other half relies a lot on its absurd real events, it becomes much harder to ignore.
6/10
+ Phenomenal performances, especially from James Franco
+ Truly absurd real-world story
+ Great comedic timing in the back half
- Cliched, unexciting first half
- Confused perspective on that real-world story
- Unearned celebratory conclusion
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