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Rating: What is the point of telling the story behind the making of the worst movie ever? Or better yet, the "Citizen Kane of bad movies"? None, or perhaps many. It doesn't have an immediate meaning, especially at a superficial glance. But it truly hides multiple interpretations, making it a little gem.
There's triumph achieved through failure, there's the persistence in wanting to say something authentic and in undertaking a feat for and with a friend, despite lacking the necessary artistic skills. There's a lonely man, without a clear past and with a highly fragile present, there's the Hollywood film industry, unattainable, mean, elitist, and there are two nobodies who refuse to give up, because after all, even James Dean had doors slammed in his face. There is the film-making process, distorted, mangled, and thus returned in absentia: by showcasing the creation of an artistically catastrophic work, James Franco writes an ode to the incapable while simultaneously sketching the celebration of true cinematic art, in its technical and logistical dimensions, as well as in the realm of talent and artistry.
It is an inexplicable life that of Tommy Wiseau, impossible to classify. A life that the man refuses to tell, but then puts entirely into his film, The Room. And his figure, which might seem purely comical and grotesque, possesses a melancholic tragedy that mixes with the nonsense, which can only be tempered by the search for a true friend. Tommy is mad, not all there, but for a friend he is willing to do anything, even spend millions of dollars on an absurd film, with which he redeems and ennobles all the failures of his life, but also gives a chance of success to his adventure companion and only friend.
And his friend, Greg, faces the possibility of betraying him, of going to make a movie with Bryan Cranston, but understands that Tommy's friendship is worth more than a brief appearance as a bearded lumberjack. There is more dignity in this noble failure than in the cold and depersonalized success of many Hollywood products. And if the audience’s laughter at the premiere initially seems to represent the ultimate mockery, with the help of his friend, Tommy manages to accept that oblique form of success, happy to have at least provoked a reaction in people.
Franco's film, in addition to explaining the story, works as a definitive seal of that success: the worst film ever made, born from noble feelings and pure incompetence, has ultimately left a mark. And a true Hollywood movie today sanctions its unconventional greatness, its memorable ugliness. Being a true tribute, the actors painstakingly imitated the cadence and poor acting of the amateur actors of The Room, in a funny circuit breaker where real stars play the roles of failed stars. Impressive is the similarity of the scenes, as highlighted by the side-by-side sequences shown after the end of the movie.
James Franco thus manages to send a message of humanity, a celebration of true feelings and impossible dreams against the logic—efficient but barren—of the Hollywood film industry. Elitist, brazen, ruthless, the "dream factory" leaves in its triumphant path an endless series of the defeated, of those who dream of reaching superstar status, like Tommy and Greg, but in their failing ventures only amplify the barrenness of that highly efficient and cold world. The criticism comes precisely from someone within that world, James Franco, who through retelling this story demonstrates an understanding of how odious that ivory tower can be for those who view it from the outside.
7/10
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