Post by Billy_Costigan on Mar 13, 2017 14:18:49 GMT
www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/disaster-artist-review-985475
James Franco scores on both sides of the camera in this wildly funny Ed Wood-esque ode to great bad movie-making, co-starring Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Sharon Stone and Alison Brie.
As someone fascinated by "The Room" I'm definitely looking forward to this. The source material is supposed to be good too. Excited by the early reviews.
James Franco scores on both sides of the camera in this wildly funny Ed Wood-esque ode to great bad movie-making, co-starring Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Sharon Stone and Alison Brie.
For the uninitiated, an oddly-accented man named Tommy Wiseau wrote, directed, financed and starred in a film called The Room, which opened in two Los Angeles theaters back in June of 2003, grossing all of about $1,200.
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.
It has since gone on to inspire live stage readings, a video game and, now, thanks to director James Franco, The Disaster Artist, a rollicking “making of” satire that was shown late Sunday night as a "work in progress" at SXSW. Judging from the roaring reception given the film by a packed audience — a majority of whom were clearly well-versed in the source material — it works quite fine just the way it is.
Franco, who’s absolutely hysterical as the brooding, deluded Wiseau, leads a parade of familiar faces, including his brother Dave, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Josh Hutcherson, Melanie Griffith and Sharon Stone, delivering a winning, Ed Wood-esque blend of comedy and pathos that could very well earn its own cult status when Warner Bros. locks in an as-yet-undetermined release date.
Based on the behind-the-scenes memoir of the same name by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, the film is seen through the eyes of Sestero (Dave Franco), an inhibited aspiring actor who strikes up an unusual relationship with the certifiably oddball Wiseau in a San Francisco acting workshop led by Melanie Griffith.
With his long black hair, dark shades and fondness for wearing multiple belts, James Franco’s Wiseau could easily be taken for an aging Sunset Boulevard rocker with a vaguely Eastern European accent even though he insists he comes from New Orleans.
Taking Sestero under his wing, he brings him to Los Angeles where he has an apartment he seldom uses, and while Sestero soon finds an agent (Sharon Stone) and a girlfriend (Alison Brie), the eccentric Wiseau isn’t as readily embraced. So he ultimately decides to call his own shots, writing and directing and starring in a self-financed would-be drama called The Room, instantly establishing himself as a triple threat not in a good way.
Franco, meanwhile, makes for a terrific double threat. While he’s clearly having a blast in the role of his career, he’s also a generous director who gives his all-star ensemble, also including the likes of Judd Apatow, Megan Mullally, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch, Bryan Cranston and Jacki Weaver, ample opportunity to shine.
Equally satisfying is the adaptation by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (the team behind 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars) that strikes a giddy, winning balance between hilarity and heart.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.
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.
It has since gone on to inspire live stage readings, a video game and, now, thanks to director James Franco, The Disaster Artist, a rollicking “making of” satire that was shown late Sunday night as a "work in progress" at SXSW. Judging from the roaring reception given the film by a packed audience — a majority of whom were clearly well-versed in the source material — it works quite fine just the way it is.
Franco, who’s absolutely hysterical as the brooding, deluded Wiseau, leads a parade of familiar faces, including his brother Dave, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Josh Hutcherson, Melanie Griffith and Sharon Stone, delivering a winning, Ed Wood-esque blend of comedy and pathos that could very well earn its own cult status when Warner Bros. locks in an as-yet-undetermined release date.
Based on the behind-the-scenes memoir of the same name by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, the film is seen through the eyes of Sestero (Dave Franco), an inhibited aspiring actor who strikes up an unusual relationship with the certifiably oddball Wiseau in a San Francisco acting workshop led by Melanie Griffith.
With his long black hair, dark shades and fondness for wearing multiple belts, James Franco’s Wiseau could easily be taken for an aging Sunset Boulevard rocker with a vaguely Eastern European accent even though he insists he comes from New Orleans.
Taking Sestero under his wing, he brings him to Los Angeles where he has an apartment he seldom uses, and while Sestero soon finds an agent (Sharon Stone) and a girlfriend (Alison Brie), the eccentric Wiseau isn’t as readily embraced. So he ultimately decides to call his own shots, writing and directing and starring in a self-financed would-be drama called The Room, instantly establishing himself as a triple threat not in a good way.
Franco, meanwhile, makes for a terrific double threat. While he’s clearly having a blast in the role of his career, he’s also a generous director who gives his all-star ensemble, also including the likes of Judd Apatow, Megan Mullally, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch, Bryan Cranston and Jacki Weaver, ample opportunity to shine.
Equally satisfying is the adaptation by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (the team behind 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars) that strikes a giddy, winning balance between hilarity and heart.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.