✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Cinema

The Disaster Artist film review ★★★★★

06 Dec 17 – 05 Dec 18, TIMES VARY

James Franco is wildly funny in The Disaster Artist – a deeply heartfelt, though utterly conventional, homage to the ‘greatest worst movie ever made’

By Daniel J Lewis on 5/12/2017

The Disaster Artist film review
The Disaster Artist film review
The Disaster Artist film review 3 The Disaster Artist film review Daniel Lewis
Fans of The Room –– the finest example of the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ movie genre –– should buy tickets to this film now. This tribute/homage/paean to that loveable cinematic disaster is made just for you.


Everyone else probably won’t necessarily be seduced by that buzz of recognition –– all the American footballs, continuities errors and rehearsals of ‘Oh, hai Mark!’ –– but a glimpse of the sheer madness that went into making that 2003 anti-masterpiece might just tempt you.



At the centre of The Disaster Artist is James Franco’s eerily accurate impression of the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau (quite literally enigmatic with that unplaceable middle European accent) who wrote, directed, produced and acted in The Room –– and managed to make a mess of every single one of those tasks to the delight of cinema goers around the world.


This film is the story of the blunder and bluster which resulted in his magnum opus, adapted from the ‘making-of’ memoir by his co-star and closest friend Greg Sestoro, who is played in The Disaster Artist by a bright-eyed Dave Franco at his bushy-tailed buddy movie best.


Sadly, Sestero’s story is as conventionally uninspiring as Wiseau is inspiringly unconventional. It boils down to your usual Hollywood drama: a pair of actors relocate from San Francisco to Los Angeles to pursue careers and, frustrated with their lack of progress, decide to make a movie themselves.


Without the (admittedly intensely funny) comic set pieces –– and dense cluster of cameos by everyone from Bryan Cranston to Judd Apatow –– the film just wouldn’t float. The bond between the two main actors is there but it just isn’t strong enough to carry much interest.



The focus on the bromance also leaves some half-formed characters in the wings, such as Sestero’s impossibly tolerant girlfriend (Alison Brie) and The Room’s script supervisor, acted by Seth Rogen whose production company brought Sestero’s book to the screen.


But you could argue these supporting roles are just doing their job: throwing more light on Franco’s portrayal of Wiseau’s singular talentlessness –– even if they don’t throw much more light on the real-life Tommy Wiseau’s still murky backstory. (Exactly where Wiseau is from or how he found the 6 million dollars it took to make the film are still huge question marks).


In the end, The Disaster Artist’s successful distraction from its weaknesses is also its main attraction: its sincere sense of fun and fascination with the ‘greatest worst movie ever made’.


by Daniel J Lewis

What The Disaster Artist film review
Where Various Locations | MAP
When 06 Dec 17 – 05 Dec 18, TIMES VARY
Price £ determined by cinema
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Brie Larson in Lessons in Chemistry, AppleTV+ (Photo: Apple)
New in streaming October 2023: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, NOW, ITVX
Things to do in London this weekend: 22–24 September
Things to do in London this weekend: 22–24 September
Ncuti Gatwa in Sex Education season 4, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
Sex Education season 4, Netflix review

Editor's Picks

Best films out Christmas 2017
Best films out: Christmas 2017
The Shard at night
Christmas Film Screening atop the Shard
Kitchen at Holmes, Secret Rooftop Christmas Cinema (Photo: Anne Kapranos)
London's best Christmas film screenings, 2022
The Best Films of 2017
The Best Films of 2017
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Cinema

Comedy

Drama

You might like

  • Happy End film review [STAR:4]

    Happy End film review ★★★★★

  • Manifesto film review

    Manifesto film review ★★★★★

  • Suburbicon film review

    Suburbicon film review ★★★★★

  • Battle of the Sexes film review

    Battle of the Sexes film review ★★★★★

  • Meryl Streep stars alongside Tom Hanks in The Post

    The Post film review ★★★★★

  • Murder on the Orient Express film - Kenneth Branagh

    Murder on the Orient Express film review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×