CREDIT: THE ROOM

The Disaster Artist (2013)

“The Citizen Kane of bad movies” is just one of many descriptions for what some consider one of the all-time worst films ever made, and yet Tommy Wiseau's disastrous masterpiece The Room continues to entertain audiences worldwide. Rocky Horror-esque screenings and various Internet memes (including a hilarious Flash game made by fans) ensure that this bungled attempt at melodrama continues to stay in the collective minds of snarky, smart-alecky filmgoers for a while.

A lot of the allure The Room carries is in its creator/ writer/director/producer/star Tommy Wiseau. To be blunt, the man is odd. Whether it's his true origins (his thick, vaguely European accent masking it) or exactly how he came upon the $6 million that went towards funding this cinematic trash, his extreme secrecy only fuels his fans speculation and interest, some ultimately concluding his nature as extraterrestrial.

The Disaster Artist is a book written by Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau's best friend and unwilling co-star in The Room, chronicling the production of the infamous cult classic, probably the film's first most complete (and honest) behind-the-scenes look. Yes, it's The Room: The Book. But to leave it at just that would be oversimplifying things.

The Disaster Artist takes on the story of The Room's various gaffes as well as the bizarre tale of how Greg met Tommy, through means of interweaving chapters. While Sestero gives us his story, his childhood and how he came to be an actor (and secured a role in Retro Puppet Master, also worth watching), he spares no time in giving us what we came for: Tommy Wiseau, the man himself. Meeting for the first time in acting class, the two became fast friends, mostly out of a need for acting partners during skits. Sestero's talents as a writer truly shine here, not just with his choice of words, but through his ability at presenting to the reader a human creature so repulsive, but yet so sympathetic, almost like a modern-day Frankenstein monster. His jabs at Tommy are always creative but never mean-spirited (and if you're a fan of The Room, you'll have no trouble understanding the various creative descriptions Sestero gives Tommy's mannerisms, appearance, vocal inflections, physique — pretty much every aspect of the man is bizarre).

Also in the book is a rather embellished (and probably fictional, since we're never told) telling of Wiseau's journey from the slums of Eastern Europe to chasing the proverbial American Dream by landing in San Francisco to begin a business of selling fake Levi jeans. It certainly is head-scratching and somewhat self-contradictory, but you'll get the feeling deep down, that this rather tragic biography might have an inkling of truth to it.

And, of course, comes the big cheese: the inside story of The Room's production. Even for you trivia nerds who've scoured every inch of the Internet for gossip about this literal disaster film, you'll hungrily gorge on the juicy tidbits Sestero divulges about the film's troubled production. With some insight on the reasons behind some of the film's more bizarre moments (like the incredibly hurried 19-second sequence where The Room's protagonist, Johnny, buys flowers from a clerk in one of the most bizarre interactions two humans have ever had), your thirst for the inside scoop on this film will very easily be satisfied.

The Disaster Artist will remind you a lot of Tim Burton's biopic, Ed Wood; both are celebrations of a filmmaker and the loveably awful films he created. It isn't afraid to poke fun at its subject, but it never turns you against Wiseau. It would be the easiest thing in the world to recommend The Disaster Artist to those who've seen and fallen in love with The Room. If you haven't, then congratulations, you've just read about something you know nothing of; watch the movie and read this book already. There's a midnight screening of The Room at Western Film (Room 340 in Western University's UCC Building) on November 29, and it's something you don't want to miss.

Rating: 5 out of 5