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The Disaster Artist
USA 2017
produced by James Franco, Evan Goldberg, Vince Jolivette, Seth Rogen, James Weaver, Richard Brener (executive), Michael Disco (executive), Joseph Drake (executive), Toby Emmerich (executive), Nathan Kahane (executive), Kelli Konop (executive), Roy Lee (executive), Alex McAtee (executive), John Powers Middleton (executive), Dave Neustadter (executive), Scott Neustadter (executive), Hans Ritter (executive), Michael H. Weber (executive), Erin Westerman (executive) for Good Universe, Point Grey Pictures, New Line/Warner Brothers
directed by James Franco
starring Dave Franco, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver, Paul Scheer, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, June Diane Raphael, Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas, Andrew Santino, Nathan Fielder, Joe Mande, Sharon Stone, John Early, Melanie Griffith, Hannibal Buress, Charlyne Yi, Jessie Ennis, Peter Gilroy, Lauren Ash, Karen Macarah, Sugar Lyn Beard, Bob Odenkirk, Brian Huskey, Megan Ferguson, Randall Park, Steven Liu, Tommy Wiseau, Casey Wilson, Jerrod Carmichael, Xosha Roquemore, Kelly Oxford, Kether Donohue, Jeffrey C. Goodell, Dree Hemingway, Angelyne, Tom Franco, Zoey Deutch, Ike Barinholtz, Kevin Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Kristen Bell, J.J. Abrams, Lizzy Caplan, Judd Apatow, Zach Braff, Bryan Cranston, David DeCoteau, Greg Sestero
screenplay by Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero, Tom Bissell, music by Dave Porter
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) is an aspiring actor in San Francisco ...
he's just not very good at it, in essence because he lacks the ability to
really open up. In contrast Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) is all about
opening up, in fact he lacks the ability to hold back. When the two meet
in acting class, Greg is quick to hook up with Tommy, in hopes of Tommy's
"talent" rubbing off on him some. And it works, too, under
Tommy's wing, Greg builds up his self-confidence quite admirably.
Eventually, the two decide to move to Hollywood and try their luck there -
and since Tommy actually has an apartment in LA, they at least have that
base covered. In Hollywood though the tides turn: While back in San
Francisco, Tommy was Greg's mentor, here his eccentric persona and unusual
looks are not met with love, while clean-cut Greg launches a moderately
successful career as actor. When he sees how down Tommy is though, Greg
convinces him to take matters into his own hands ... and make a movie
himself. Tommy soon throws himself into writing a script, and since
money's not a problem to him, he hires a professional crew and everything
to make his "vision" come to life - but thing is, his vision is
a rather incomprehensible drama - The Room
- about a too-good-to-be-true guy (played by Tommy himself) being betrayed
by pretty much everybody, including his best friend Mark (played by Greg),
and unfortunately, Tommy has no experience on a film set and thus is not a
very skilled director. And somehow, the drama that is The
Room seems to play out in real life as well when Greg finds a
girlfriend, Amber (Alison Brie), and Tommy feels betrayed when the two
move in together. Also he starts to behave more and more erratic on set,
to the point where the film goes over schedule considerably. After The
Room is done, Greg and Tommy go their separate ways, and Greg
experiences some success on stage, so much so that he wishes nobody would
even see The Room - but then Tommy
launches a big premiere, and insists for Greg coming. And the premiere is
really something else ... It's interesting, in the quality
department, The Room has nothing on The
Disaster Artist, as the latter film is much better put together,
scripted, acted and whatnot, it's funny when it intends to be, and has its
dramatic moments in all the right places - and yet, in a few decades or so
The Disaster Artist will probably be known mostly as a footnote in
the weird history of The Room. The
reason for this being that this film here just fails to properly come into
its own. Sure, its story is unique, and a great blend of comedy and
tragedy, but the script just feels generic, following a rigid structure
with all the plotpoints in all the usual places, with little in terms of
originality. And I'm not saying this is a bad movie at all, everything I
said above I still stand to, it's just that this film won't stay with you
even half as long as the weirdness that is the actual The
Room does - which just takes me back to my claim I made in that
movie's review that (the real) Tommy Wiseau is a genius ...
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