The Disaster Artist (2017)

 Merry Christmas to one and all (except James Franco.  And probably Tommy Wiseau.  But definitely Franco.)    It took me three years to watch this movie.  I should have just given up after I quit the second time, but I remembered that the fast forward button existed.

Greg (Dave Franco) is trying to break into acting.  He's going to all the classes, reading all the materials, but it's just not clicking.  He wants to be a free-spirit like Tommy (James Franco).  Tommy is seemingly independently wealthy, intentionally ambiguous about his past, and whole-heartedly believes that he will be the next James Dean.  Tommy needs Greg, as a foil, as a confidant, as a toady.  Greg needs Tommy, as a breadwinner, as a cheerleader, as a mentor.  So when Tommy just up and moves to LA and offers Greg a place to live while they both reach for their dreams, why not?  And when LA doesn't immediately offer them fame and fortune, why not write their own movie?  And star in it.  And produce it.

By now, everyone who is the least interested in movies has heard of The Room.  It is a legendarily bad movie that crossed the Rubicon to become a cult classic.  No, I haven't seen it.  Such things must be done with friends in the right mood and the stars have never aligned in its favor for me.  Similarly, I've never seen Plan 9 from Outer Space or any Roger Corman that wasn't through the lens of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  I have limits to what I will endure for the sake of art.

The Disaster Artist tests those limits to the breaking point.  Even though it is merely a reflection of the behind-the-scenes and not the thing itself, it is excruciating in its cruelty.  

This is not a portrait of a tortured-in-his-own-mind, hilariously-inept filmmaker.  But it is also not a lampoon of a raging egomaniac getting his just desserts.  Tommy isn't the villain, even though he does come off as a misogynistic, racist tool.  He's just pathetic.  But not pathetic enough to garner sympathy.  The movie saves all that for Greg, as Tommy ruins both their careers.  I think it's going for a warts-and-all approach but the guy is all wart, no frog.  And yet it still feels like punching down whenever they make fun of him because he genuinely doesn't get it.  This movie is a mean-spirited tragedy with a laugh track.

It's currently streaming on Kanopy (with a library card) and Paramount+ (with a subscription).  Avoid.