The Disaster Artist (2017)

Jack and I loved this story of the friendship that led to the making of "The Citizen Kane of bad movies." James Franco is spectacular as enigmatic, possibly insane, auteur Tommy Wiseau and Dave Franco is also terrific as Greg Sestero, with whom Wiseau made The Room (2003). The brothers act together for the first time in this picture. James was last blogged for Why Him? and Dave for The Little Hours, which also featured his wife Alison Brie, who plays his girlfriend Amber in this picture.

Neither of us has seen the original The Room, though Jack watched some clips on youtube. Here it is if you want, or, better yet, see it late one Saturday night in a theatre with an audience who will participate in celebrating the cult classic (apparently plastic spoons and footballs are a thing).

Frequent James Franco collaborator Seth Rogen (most recently in Steve Jobs) plays it somewhat straight as frustrated script supervisor Sandy who has to do much of the directing while Wiseau is in front of the camera. By binge-watching the Showtime series I'm Dying Up Here, I've become a fan of Ari Graynor (she was also the title character in the TV adaptation of Bad Teacher) so was happy to see her as the actress who plays the main love interest in the movie-within-a-movie. The cast is enormous, credited and not. I particularly enjoyed cameos by Melanie Griffith as an acting teacher, Sharon Stone as an agent, and Judd Apatow as a Hollywood producer trying to have a quiet dinner. The real Sestero appears as a casting agent and Wiseau has a full scene with James Franco after the credits so do not leave the room while the credits are rolling!

As Wiseau did in The Room, James Franco directs and stars. Franco has directed thirteen other features (plus some documentaries and shorts) but I haven't seen one. Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (last blogged for The Spectacular Now) adapted the 2013 book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Sestero and Tom Bissell.

I can't even begin to guess the psychological diagnoses a professional would assign to Wiseau, but it's interesting that someone so thin-skinned, at least according to this movie and the research I've done, would approve of this adaptation. I'm glad he did, though.

The Room premiered at Laemmle's Fairfax Theatre in 2003. It has since closed. In The Disaster Artist, the Crest Theatre in Westwood, a few miles west, is a gorgeous substitution.

The original score is by Dave Porter (62 episodes of Breaking Bad, 30 of Better Call Saul, and more) and you can stream his tunes by starting with this YouTube link and turning on autoplay. Imdb lists thirteen songs and spotify has fifteen.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are with us this time, averaging 94 and 91% before its opening weekend is over. I do suggest, however, making allowances for MPMS (sit far back if Motion-Picture-Motion-Sickness is a problem for you--here's my running list) and getting a closed caption device if your theatre offers it. James Franco's weird accent can be quite difficult to understand.