The Disaster Artist Is A Heartfelt Celebration Of The Worst Bad Film Of Our Time

The 2017 winter movie season has arrived and with it comes the traditional batch of award season films, that generally start out playing in limited theaters but later expand into a larger number of screens thanks to the positive word of mouth, giving these movies legs as well as a chance to garner some serious award recognition from both the Golden Globes and Oscars. One of the movies striving for award recognition is a biography and comedy titled The Disaster Artist starting James Franco, which covers the making of a 2003 cult classic film titled The Room. To movie buffs, this movie is not a typical film as its legacy is one that has gone down in infamy as being considered one of the worst movies of all time, that somehow manages to be entertaining in many fans eyes despite its awfulness. For everything that film does wrong, it brings unintentional laughter from it's audience. Fast forward nearly 15 years later and now Hollywood has brought forth a documentary style biography mixed with comedy on the making of the iconic film written by, directed, and starting Tommy Wiseau. The Disaster Artist not only manages to be entertaining and well-advised in telling the story of how one of the most unusual productions in film history was commenced, but also has something to say about one striving to reach their dreams, as well as a somewhat heartfelt message regarding friendship.

       The Disaster Artist is one of the more unusual films up for award consideration this winter, but also one that happens to be well put together exploring the relationship between the films mysterious star and his aspiring actor friend named Greg. With both meeting together in acting class, they form a unique friendship and head to Hollywood in pursuit of making their dreams come true. The Disaster Artist is not just a movie about the making of one, but also is a story about two people forming an unlikely friendship and striving to meet their goals together, regardless of the outcome. What could've just ended up being a standard documentary style film on the making of The Room surprises audiences with the amount of depth the story has along with the large doses of humor that accompanies the story making it a fun experience for audiences. Not only is The Disaster Artist a fun movie that's hilarious largely thanks to James Franco's performance, but it also carries with it heart when it reverts to the friendship side of the story. The films best moments are when showing the production of The Room and specific reenactment of key scenes from that film reenacted by Franco. It is those scenes that makes the film feel both authentic and nostalgic. The film beautifully explores the creative process of filmmaking and does so with a great deal of charm within the story. James Franco's performance as Tommy Wiseau is not only spot on but hilarious and carries the film. The script wonderfully weaves both the comedy and heartfelt moments together giving Franco much room to play off of.

      The film feels awfully similar to Tim Burton's biography Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp about the worst director of all time back in the earlier era of Hollywood. Like how Depp carried that film along with Burton's unique style of directing, Franco carries the film and by a long stretch delivers the best performance that's striking, hilarious, and heartfelt. Watching the character of Tommy Wiseau being depicted on the big screen, the audience cant help but look at his character and wonder in amazement how he was able to make a full length feature film despite its quality. The main difference between Tommy Wiseau and James Franco, who both starred in and directed the film is that Wiseau despite having noble intentions, isn't capable of possessing talent to make a good movie, but Franco does and crafts a far stronger film that pays homage to the failed director. Along with James contribution to the film, his brother Dave Franco does a strong job playing Tommy's buddy Greg, providing the norm to Tommy's eccentric behavior and even questioning at times whether their project will be successful in the end, but always chooses to stick by his friend and believe in his dream. The script for The Disaster Artist is unique because of how it explores the relationship between these two characters while showing both the difficulties of Hollywood, as well as the love that one possesses for the craft. As weird and unique as Wiseaus vision is for The Room, there's no denying that he has a love for the art of telling a story even if it's a non-conventional one.

        If one was to put The Room and The Disaster Artist together, one can clearly see the distinction between the two in regards to clever, competent storytelling, and amateurism at its worst, that has rightly garnered a special place in audiences hearts as being a terrible film that's told in the most unintentionally entertaining fashion. The Disaster Artist for its entire 104 minute possesses more heart, and equal enthusiasm than what Tommy Wiseau brought to his film with the main exception being Franco's story is a much stronger film all around, serving as both a labor of love as well as a heartfelt tribute to one of the most highly unusual and disastrous productions in Cinema history. The outcome of The Room one suspects is probably not one that it's director and star was hoping for, but at the same time the audience feels that he's just happy to have his film embraced by audiences in some form. The Disaster Artist is one of the most surprising and unusual films released in this year's award season, but it's a story about friendship and filmmaking, good or bad that actually works. The movie is not only hilarious with Franco's performance, but it hits the right notes in terms of making an important statement regarding friendship and aspiring to reach ones dreams. Franco's performance is worthy of it's numerous award wins from the Golden Globes to the SAG awards, it's a shame however that his real life controversy regarding accusations of sexual misconduct made the Academy Awards uncomfortable, ultimately shunning him of a Best Actor nomination. The Franco brothers are dynamic here and make The Disaster Artist a fun and heartfelt experience that the real Tommy Wiseau aspired to reach with The Room. Whereas The Room failed in terms of being a significant piece of filmmaking in a positive light, The Disaster Artist succeeds and proves to be entertaining along with being well-crafted largely thanks to it's Oscar nominated screenplay. The Disaster Artist is one of the most surprising hits of 2017, and one that is worth watching for those who are fans of The Room.

                                                                                                       Final Verdict: SEE IT