I cannot get this line out of my head. The Disaster Artist got this quote stuck in my head in the same way a musical gets its songs stuck in one's head. I loved the book it is based on, I love the movie that the book described the making of, therefore I am this film's target audience on every possible level. Naturally my hopes were high. Thankfully they were met. Stunningly they were exceeded. Indeed, this is a funny story, Mark. And a touching one also.

The subject of today’s film is Tommy Wiseau, the director, writer, producer, and star of The Room, which is now known as the “Citizen Kane of Bad Movies”. We get to know Tommy through the eyes of his friend-turned-costar-turned author of the book that The Disaster Artist is based on, Greg Sestero, as they meet, move to Los Angeles, then make their own movie together after much rejection. Any other sane person in the same acting class as Tommy Wiseau would not have gone within one hundred  feet of him let alone asked to perform a scene with him. But in an effort to have some of Tommy’s unwavering confidence rub off on him, Sestero (played with a humble interpretation by Dave Franco) requests Tommy’s class partnership. Both the movie and book explore the unlikely friendship between these two detailing it all the way up until the premiere of The Room. I call this friendship unlikely because it is not lost on the film that Sestero often had moments of questioning himself for sticking with Tommy. He exchanges “just go with it” glances with his girlfriend, and agrees to participate in the making of Tommy’s movie because Hollywood has not given either of them much of a chance yet, so what do they have to lose now?

            James Franco is the director and star of this film (not unlike the real Tommy Wiseau's role in the making of The Room). He takes great care to portray the events not only accurately in terms of timeline and impersonation, but in terms of portraying Tommy as the kind of person one wants to punch with frustration while simultaneously peeking into his brain to see how he gets from Point A to Point Square. Franco delivers Tommy by the expected accent and mannerisms, but also brings a kind of vulnerability that we are only allowed to comprehend bits and pieces of while sensing it all of the time. Here is a man who did what he loved even after getting rejected from everyone else, but was a horror to work with. In one scene, Wiseau is naked on an open set to get ready for a sex scene with his costar Juliette Danielle (played by Ari Gaynor), because he believes that he needs to “show [his] ass to sell this picture”. On the one hand, I can understand somewhat a need for physical exposure when taking on a scene of emotional and physical intimacy such as a dramatic sex scene. On the other hand, why an open set? Why does everyone need to be there? And why shoot said sex scene on both 35mm and HD cameras? None of it makes sense, and yet the audience wants it to make sense. We want to see his mindset because he is so far on his own mental planet that we are drawn to follow him. And The Disaster Artist retains that tone of curiosity throughout.

            I might say that my one flaw with the film is one that I go back and forth on. As someone who has read the book, I can confidently say that this film strove to make Tommy more sympathetic than he was in the book. Don’t get me wrong, the feats of Franco’s performance that I mentioned above were a big part of the original source material, but this film left out even more of incomprehensible abuse of the actors and crew. For example, Ari Gaynor does not have to reenact Juliette Danielle's audition for the picture. The aforementioned audition included some opportunity for exposure...let's just put it that way. Overall though, the film still portrays Tommy as the book did, a man who is difficult to like but easy to admire. He is the Florence Foster Jenkins of Hollywood; you may say he could not make a movie but you cannot say he did not make a movie.

“I did not hit her. It’s not true. It’s bullshit. I did not hit her. I did not…oh hi Mark.”

           The quote above does not tie into this review, I just wanted to insert it somewhere because I love The Disaster Artist and The Room so much. If you are a big fan of The Room over Greg Sestero's book on which The Disaster Artist is based, then I am curious as to why you are still reading my nothing-of-a-blog series instead of flocking to your nearest theatre.