This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. If you would like to keep up with our content, click here.
Synopsis: With The Disaster Artist, James Franco transforms the tragicomic true-story of aspiring filmmaker and infamous Hollywood outsider Tommy Wiseau–an artist whose passion was as sincere as his methods were questionable–into a celebration of friendship, artistic expression, and dreams pursued against insurmountable odds. Based on Greg Sestero’s best-selling tell-all about the making of Tommy’s cult-classic disasterpiece The Room (“The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Madeâ€), The Disaster Artist is a hilarious and welcome reminder that there is more than one way to become a legend–and no limit to what you can achieve when you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. (a24)
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, and Seth Rogen
Writers: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Director: James Franco
Rating: n/a (Canada)/R (United States)
Running Time: 98mins
Trailer:
A movie based on a book based on the making of another film. The film in question was The Room which is widely considered as the worst film ever made. While it would be easy to go the parody route, this film avoids making characters into caricatures and instead makes them into real people. At the root of the story is a pair of actors named Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) and Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) struggling in Los Angeles. Instead of finding their own jobs, Wiseau created The Room for himself and Sestero.
The making of the film was hilarious to watch as everyone involved had an inkling that it was going to be bad but went along with it anyway. It was amazing how they managed to recreate the original film within the framework of this one. Ultimately, the film would not have worked without Franco’s transformative performance as Wiseau. He may have perfected Wiseau’s mannerisms but his performance was never a caricature. Dave Franco as Sestero was great and he and James Franco were fun to watch together, using their natural chemistry as brothers.
Overall, this was a hilarious comedy with a lot of heart, featuring James Franco’s best performance as Wiseau.
Score: 9.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
