Is 'The Disaster Artist' Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Have To Say
"The Disaster Artist," the screen adaptation of Greg "Mark" Sestero and Tom Bissell's book recounting the making of the beloved bad movie "The Room," has been steadily generating buzz in the film festival circuit. James Franco directs and stars as Tommy Wiseau, the mysterious and bizarre writer/director/star of "The Room." The film makes its limited debut on December 1 — could it actually be an awards contender? Does it get to the bottom of who Wiseau really is? Should haters leave their stupid comments in their pocket? Here's what the reviews say:
'The Disaster Artist' Goes All The Way From Tommy And Greg Meeting To The Eventual Cult Success Of 'The Room'
In 1998 in San Francisco, Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) is an aspiring actor who is wowed by a performance from his eccentric and fearless fellow acting student Tommy Wiseau (James Franco). Hoping to learn from the enigmatic Wiseau, Greg and Tommy strike up a friendship and eventually move to L.A. to try and make it as actors. When they both struggle, Greg suggests they should make their own movie.
[Collider]
Franco's Wiseau is an enigma. He's wealthy, but won't talk about where his money comes from. He's impulsive. He's obviously a liar (at one point he tries to claim he's 19). Also, he's a terrible actor.
[UPROXX]
That normally would have been the end of the story, except for the fact that the $6 million production would go on to achieve a rabid cult following, earning dubious praise as "the Citizen Kane of bad movies" while Wiseau was dubbed a new millennium Ed Wood.
This Movie Wants You To Care About Tommy Wiseau
Getting Michael H. Weber & Scott Neustadter to pen the screenplay was a stroke of genius. Bringing the same amount of heart they brought to The Spectacular Now and The Fault in Our Stars, the script has an incredible amount of empathy for Wiseau. While we can argue whether or not that sympathy is deserved for the real-life Wiseau, from the perspective of the movie, it's essential that we care about this total misfit.
[Collider]
This is an idealized, romanticized version of the making of [The Room], but it makes The Room feel like less of a bizarre train wreck, and more like the earnest effort of a would-be artist who just wasn't good enough at realizing he wasn't good enough. It's the same trick Ed Wood pulled off. While The Disaster Artist never hits the highs of Tim Burton's film, it nevertheless generates incredible goodwill toward The Room, and makes the prospect of watching it — even without that live audience — seem like a fun idea.
It's Not Necessary To See 'The Room' First (But Hey, Do It)
Most importantly, everyone should be able to laugh along with Franco even if they won't fully appreciate his work without seeing "The Room." By recognizing the many layers of his character, he helps make the movie approachable. And while a close look at Wiseau's film would make Franco's tribute more meaningful, "The Disaster Artist" largely works because it brings us closer to Tommy while reveling in the same ingredients that have turned him into an icon.
Whether or not audiences have previously seen "The Room," there's satisfaction simply in witnessing such actors parody the process that went into making it. And for those who do know the movie, there are no shortage of before-the-fact nods to ingredients that would later filter into the project: as when Wiseau and Sestero play an awkward game of football (as they later would in "The Room"), or a couple of melodramatic moments staged on the roof of Wiseau's apartment building (a venue he would inexplicably approximate via lousy greenscreen on a soundstage for the film).
[Variety]
Franco's Wiseau Might Be Some Of His Best Acting, Period
The centerpiece is James Franco's turn as Wiseau, and it is a hilarious, committed performance. He nails the filmmaker's odd voice and awkward mannerisms, but also brings a charm and fragility to the part. Those elements make the movie version of Wiseau more than just a one-off joke.
Franco can hit a joke as Tommy, even though Tommy can't land a punchline on camera to save his life. As Rogen's character says in the movie, "It would be weird for Tommy to do something that's not weird."
If we're going to be busy this award season celebrating Gary Oldman's transformation into Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, then we also have to do the same for Franco becoming Wiseau. He takes what could have easily been a parody and make Wiseau into a real, three-dimensional person who not only makes us laugh with all of his eccentricities, but also gets us to care about his loneliness and insecurities.
[Collider]
Right before the end credits, we are shown side-by-side comparisons of The Room and scenes of The Room recreated for The Disaster Artist, and it's pretty uncanny. Franco paid attention to each and every meticulous detail in order to recreate a movie that had little details or planning. It's kind of insane, but Franco pulls it off.
[UPROXX]
The Franco brothers have yet to spend a significant amount of time on screen together during their careers. Having watched "The Disaster Artist," it almost seems they've been waiting for a project like this to fall in their laps. The chemistry is present from scene one.
[TheWrap]
Stars And Comedians Were Eager To Join This Cast
The Room is so beloved, in fact, that it's hard think of a celebrity who didn't clear his or her schedule to pop up in The Disaster Artist. J.J. Abrams, Adam Scott, and Kevin Smith appear as documentary-style talking heads attesting to the movie's significance.
[Vulture]
Everyone from Seth Rogen (also executive-producing) and Josh Hutcherson to Hannibal Buress and Zac Efron make appearances as actors and crew members on "The Room." Miraculously, "Disaster Artist" avoids getting too busy with all these moving parts. The supporting players end up illuminating Wiseau's eccentricity instead of undercutting it.
[TheWrap]
The great Jacki Weaver wrestles with an impossible line ("I got the results of the test back, I definitely have breast cancer"). An unrecognizable Zac Efron plays the over-actor responsible for playing menacing gangster Chris-R in "The Room." And Josh Hutcherson hilariously embodies the 27-year-old whom Wiseau cast as a mentally disabled teen.
[Variety]
'The Disaster Artist' Loves 'The Room' And Doesn't Exist To Tear It Down
Part of what makes The Disaster Artist work so well is that it adopts the beats and structure of an inspirational underdog story. Wiseau's dreams are boundless, and his confidence is never-ending. No matter how bad things get, he refuses to give up. There's a real charm to his indomitability, particularly early on when he serves as such a clear inspiration to Sestero. It's impossible to not root for this bizarre misfit — even when he repeatedly lies, in his strange Eastern European accent, that he's from New Orleans.
Another filmmaker might have turned the story ironic, or come from a place of ridicule, but Franco is a go-big-or-go-home experimentalist who appreciates effort perhaps even more than results. His movie, based on a book by Wiseau's best friend and co-star Greg Sestero, holds nothing but love.
[Vulture]
That Same 'Love' Might Disappoint Viewers Looking For Something More Revealing
"The Disaster Artist" takes a curiously long time to get to the actual making of "The Room," and one might expect all that lead-up — during which Sestero and Wiseau move to L.A., where they share the latter's one-room pied à terre — to serve in establishing the foundation for the dysfunctional buddy movie this really ought to be. But somehow, in accentuating Wiseau's weirdness, Franco overlooks his soul.
[Variety]
Part of the perverse fascination of The Room is the way Wiseau's personality awkwardly imposes itself into every frame, stilted line, and creepy subtext, but the lazy fannishness of The Disaster Artist prevents it from thinking of its protagonist as anything more than a funny accent with mood swings; even Wiseau's evasive comments about his age and early life are handled evasively.
TL;DR
Fans of The Room will certainly relish the humor, but The Disaster Artist has so much more to offer than jokes and James Franco doing a weird accent.
[Collider]
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