I did not hate this movie, I love this movie, oh Hi Tommy!

THE DISASTER ARTIST (2017)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"The Room" and its director Tommy Wiseau remain mysteries wrapped inside some sort of Ed Wood cube that Pinhead might be afraid to open. Of all the good-bad movies I've seen in my life, "The Room" is one that cannot really be called a movie or cinema. It is an experience but I do not know what that experience is meant to be and what it says about humanity. Possibly something, maybe nothing. It is a memorable, eye-rolling, almost unspeakably watchable experience yet emotionally empty, putting it kindly. Wiseau is a film director whose past remains a mystery (he claims he is from Louisiana) and his available finances are, well, oh Hi Mark! James Franco's "The Disaster Artist," a delightful mixture of "Living in Oblivion" crossed with "Ed Wood," doesn't exactly answer those questions but it does have plenty of warranted laughs and ball-of-fire performances as it proves how inspiring it is to make a film, even if the film is pure rubbish.

James Franco plays the heavily-accented, supposedly New Orleans-raised Tommy Wiseau, who is seen in the opening scene at an acting class where he does a unique version of Stanley Kowalski from "A Streetcar Named Desire." He screams "STELLA!!!" and writhes and gyrates on stage in ways that Marlon Brando would never have attempted. Tommy grabs the attention of another fellow actor, 19-year-old Greg Sestero (Dave Franco), who hopes to do scenes with Tommy. They become fast friends, so fast that Tommy tells Greg to move into his L.A. apartment with him and they will get agents and becomes big-time Hollywood actors, all done with a pinky swear pact! Greg finds an agent but there are no jobs, and Tommy does not fare any better. What is the next step? Well, make a movie of course and Tommy is flush with so much cash ("a bottomless pit") that he buys two 35mm cameras, two HD cameras and film equipment and directs his own screenplay, not to mention plays the title role. Before long, disaster strikes as Tommy has trouble remembering easy dialogue, greenscreens rooftop scenes, duplicates an alley when they can shoot it right outside the studio, laughs inappropriately during many serious dialogue moments, arrives nude to do his sex scene and has it shot from behind ("So they can see my ass! This is an American movie!") and a lot more drama than the melodramatic hysterics of "The Room."The crew is incredulous at every aspect of this production.

When I heard James Franco was involved in this production, I thought he and the writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber would just mock "The Room" and play it for laughs. Surprisingly, that is not the case at all. James Franco and his younger brother, Dave, are solid in this film, making their characters humanistic and their friendship rather touching. Though there are plenty of funny scenes, none of them are overplayed and the crucial relationship between Tommy and Greg forms the backbone of the movie. If that relationship did not work, "The Disaster Artist" would have failed miserably despite a game supporting cast that includes Alison Brie and Seth Rogen. Though I would not paint the Wiseau/Sestero relationship on the same level as Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi's depicted relationship in Tim Burton's "Ed Wood," it comes awfully close. In fact, both "Disaster Artist" and "Ed Wood" share many similarities about the perils of small-scale filmmaking (though few indie filmmakers have 6 million dollars at their disposal) and how a friendship can make up for everything else. Greg is frustrated by Tommy's temper-tantrums on the set and yet, after all the fighting and tension of making the movie, there is still a mutual respect and an unmistakable bond.

Filled with terrifically timed cameos (my favorite might be Bryan Cranston and an unrecognizable Zac Efron), "The Disaster Artist" makes me appreciate "The Room" even more so than before. "The Room" might be Tommy Wiseau's bizarre statement on having respect and love for another but, I have to say, James Franco's film says it and does it better. Along with "Ed Wood," "The Disaster Artist" is one of the greatest modern films ever made about independent filmmaking.