MOVIE REVIEW: The Disaster Artist

The true story of the worst film ever made and the man Tommy Wiseau who wrote, directed, and produced the film.Â When young actor Greg Sestero meets Tommy his life changes, Tommy talks like he’s from a different world, has money to burn, and like Greg wants to be an actor.Â When no one in Hollywood will give them acting jobs it hits Tommy that he should write a film that will showcase their talents.Â What happens will become one of the greatest disasters and yet best known story’s in Hollywood.

Up until The Disaster Artist I have had very little time for James Franco.Â I find his films a little one note beings that just leave me cold.Â His comedies or at least his appearance in comedies don’t make me laugh, and if you ask the other members of the Critics Circle here in the Emerald Isle, you would know I tend to laugh at nearly anything.Â But here in The Disaster Artist James Franco gives not just the performance of his career but also the performance of the year.Â Also hands down this is the best comedy that I’ve seen this year and it’s all factual.

The story of the making of The Room, Tommy’s film, is one that you couldn’t make up if you tried.Â You cannot create the string of events that lead to something so terrible and yet oddly enjoyable being created.Â I often tell people about different real life stories that I hear that if I put them in a book, no one, no one would believe me.Â This is one of those stories. When Tommy first meets Greg the younger Franco has his head spun around with the aggressive and brutal talent that lays within the mysterious older actor.Â They move from Seattle to LA in order to further their careers and Greg is shocked by the seemingly endless supply of money that Tommy has.Â When they both get rejected by the mainstream of the Hollywood game Greg encourages Tommy to write the script for The Room.Â It’s the production of the film that starts to show the true colours, and the lack of talent, that Tommy has.

This is honestly the comedy that I’ve wanted all year for.Â A lot of American comedies fail to gain laughs or whose best laughs are wasted in the trailers, The Disaster Artist is a factual dramatisation that manages to make you laugh with the natural events of the lives of Tommy and Greg.Â Myself and my Partner sat in a small packed theatre in Dublin, and no one touched their phones during the running time, that is so strange.Â Usually at press shows there are no mobile phones in use, one of our unspoken rules, but this was a public screening where the public don’t obey such rules.Â From the start of the movie, with famous faces talking almost in admiration for the film The Room, to the end scenes which show the tremendous detail that Franco went to recreate The Room, there is something that just holds your attention.

With the supporting cast offering their best game faces to the film and a natural feeling to the filming of the events, you feel as a viewer, that you’re watching something special.Â The Franco Brothers have an obvious natural chemistry that works perfectly as the two men become friends.Â It’s when new people come into their relationship that you see the true madness of Tommy.Â James Franco Directs this film and maybe he should be doing more behind the camera, but if he can deliver this level of performance in the future, then I’ll take more of an interest in him.Â The Disaster Artist is about as perfect and entertaining as it gets and should not be missed.