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jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
"The Room" was released in 2003 and had a budget of 6 million dollars. The film was conceived, written, produced and starred Tommy Wiseau. It has been called one of the worst movies ever made. At this point it has achieved a cult following who attend screenings of the film and interact/participate with the movie much like you would see at a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
If you've never heard of the movie The Room, then check this video out on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvuwldnG7c0
The Disaster Artist gives a behind the scenes look at the making of the film by Wiseau's friend and co-star Greg Sestero. He's honest and open about Wiseau but also doesn't needlessly lambast him.
I really enjoyed this book in a train-wreck/reality show kind of way Wiseau is a bizarre human being who is apparently completely oblivious of how real life or Hollywood works.
I recommend this book to fans of pop culture and to those who are interested in behind the scenes looks at Hollywood film-making.
I won this book in a goodread giveaway.
justakid's review against another edition
3.0
i nearly cried bro i love tommy i hope he enjoys his life so much
astraia_sun's review against another edition
5.0
I must preface this review by telling you that I. Love. Bad. Movies. Anything with Nicolas Cage is on my "to watch" list (most notably, Vampire's Kiss). I've seen The Apple, Cool As Ice, Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Birdemic, and countless other films, most more than once. Thanks to a childhood of watching Mystery Science Theater all the time, my sense of humor is both obscure and nonsensical at times. I get just as much enjoyment (if not more) out of watching a truly terrible film than some Oscar winners. Not only that, but I have a special spot in my heart for films that really, honestly TRY. But they fail so hardcore that you can only watch in stunned awe as the movie goes down in flames.
Obviously, I love The Room with a passion it does not deserve. I live tweeted watching the movie for the first time, completely enraptured with the piece of crap that passes itself off as a serious film (and, as noted in the book, it truly meant to be serious no matter what Tommy Wiseau says now). My brother and sister-in-law threw me a 25th birthday party inspired by The Room, complete with football plates, bracelets proclaiming each other "best friends", framed spoons, and of course, the epic framed collage of Johnny's Moods. I keep it on the wall in my kitchen.
So it was with UTTER delight that I found out Greg Sestero (Ohai Mark!) had written a book, delving into his longterm friendship with Tommy Wiseau and dishing on the dirt that happened during the filming of one of the best Bad movies of all time. I immediately downloaded the book on my Kindle when I found out it was released, and devoured it. As I tweeted to Greg Sestero (who AWESOMELY retweeted me!), this book was everything I dreamed of. And more. Not only do we get the dirty details (and yes, some are quite dirty) on the making of the Room, but we also learn how Sestero and Wiseau became friends.
Reading this book, I found I quite liked Greg Sestero. He seemed like a normal guy, trying to pursue his dreams. His fateful meeting with Tommy Wiseau in an acting class had me in stitches. I'm not sure how much of the funny bits were Sestero, or his cowriter, but regardless, I laughed more reading this book than I have some novels that were supposed to be comedy. I think the sure inanity of Tommy Wiseau had a lot to do with it. To put a fine point on it, this man is bizarre. The interviews with him and the other actors do NOT fully encapsulate the fact that this guy is a complete weirdo.
The chapters alternate between the filming of the movie, and in the past with how Sestero met and maintained his friendship with the exhausting Wiseau. The two were even roommates at one point. Reading about him in the past, and at certain points in the production scenes, you get a sense that there is actually more to Tommy Wiseau than his trademark absurdity. I think it's the fact that Sestero sensed Wiseau's utter loneliness, along with being just a generally nice guy, that Greg Sestero didn't drop Wiseau as a friend during the man's more trying moments. You will feel sorry for Tommy Wiseau when you see a very rare glimpse into his past and his feelings (very rare, you still have absolutely no idea how Tommy Wiseau got his money, where he's from, or really much of anything else about his personal life by the end of the book). And then in the next chapter he will do something totally wretched like yell at poor Juliette Danielle over having some acne on her back in front of the entire film crew. It's really hard to pin down exactly how you should feel about Tommy Wiseau, and after reading Sestero's point of view, it seems like he is in the same predicament.
The book is well written, and it's easy to read. Sestero describes how he became interested in acting, and what he had to deal with to get there (he was an honest to goodness Fashion model for awhile). And reading about how exhausting and draining it was to have Tommy Wiseau as a friend, I totally understood. I've been in a situation where I was friends with someone (though not bizarre) that was just exhausting to be around. And you're not sure why you're still friends with the person, except maybe that you think it'd be less drama just to remain friends.
I shared several passages from the book on Facebook, and my friends who also have seen the Room were equally as amused (and in some cases, horrified) as I was. Those who haven't seen the movie, or don't share my love of bad movies, obviously wouldn't get much out of this book other than a guy who is trying to be an actor and a really, really crappy movie set that makes no sense. But that's the charm, at least for people like me. I've been in plays where everything goes wrong, so I could commiserate with Sestero and the other actors and the crew. They're just trying to do the best they can (or in some cases, trying to get through the best they can; Sestero admits that he phoned in most of his performance and in some cases just didn't even bother trying), in a very strange working environment.
At the end of the day, I was very sorry to read the last sentence. This book is a rare glimpse into the making of a cult classic, and into the weird life of Tommy Wiseau. I greatly enjoyed the included photos, and each little anecdote was, if not important, at least amusing. The Room is a very peculiar phenomenon, and to be able to read about it, to see what it was like to be a part of it, was awesome.
To make a long story short, I loved this book.
Obviously, I love The Room with a passion it does not deserve. I live tweeted watching the movie for the first time, completely enraptured with the piece of crap that passes itself off as a serious film (and, as noted in the book, it truly meant to be serious no matter what Tommy Wiseau says now). My brother and sister-in-law threw me a 25th birthday party inspired by The Room, complete with football plates, bracelets proclaiming each other "best friends", framed spoons, and of course, the epic framed collage of Johnny's Moods. I keep it on the wall in my kitchen.
So it was with UTTER delight that I found out Greg Sestero (Ohai Mark!) had written a book, delving into his longterm friendship with Tommy Wiseau and dishing on the dirt that happened during the filming of one of the best Bad movies of all time. I immediately downloaded the book on my Kindle when I found out it was released, and devoured it. As I tweeted to Greg Sestero (who AWESOMELY retweeted me!), this book was everything I dreamed of. And more. Not only do we get the dirty details (and yes, some are quite dirty) on the making of the Room, but we also learn how Sestero and Wiseau became friends.
Reading this book, I found I quite liked Greg Sestero. He seemed like a normal guy, trying to pursue his dreams. His fateful meeting with Tommy Wiseau in an acting class had me in stitches. I'm not sure how much of the funny bits were Sestero, or his cowriter, but regardless, I laughed more reading this book than I have some novels that were supposed to be comedy. I think the sure inanity of Tommy Wiseau had a lot to do with it. To put a fine point on it, this man is bizarre. The interviews with him and the other actors do NOT fully encapsulate the fact that this guy is a complete weirdo.
The chapters alternate between the filming of the movie, and in the past with how Sestero met and maintained his friendship with the exhausting Wiseau. The two were even roommates at one point. Reading about him in the past, and at certain points in the production scenes, you get a sense that there is actually more to Tommy Wiseau than his trademark absurdity. I think it's the fact that Sestero sensed Wiseau's utter loneliness, along with being just a generally nice guy, that Greg Sestero didn't drop Wiseau as a friend during the man's more trying moments. You will feel sorry for Tommy Wiseau when you see a very rare glimpse into his past and his feelings (very rare, you still have absolutely no idea how Tommy Wiseau got his money, where he's from, or really much of anything else about his personal life by the end of the book). And then in the next chapter he will do something totally wretched like yell at poor Juliette Danielle over having some acne on her back in front of the entire film crew. It's really hard to pin down exactly how you should feel about Tommy Wiseau, and after reading Sestero's point of view, it seems like he is in the same predicament.
The book is well written, and it's easy to read. Sestero describes how he became interested in acting, and what he had to deal with to get there (he was an honest to goodness Fashion model for awhile). And reading about how exhausting and draining it was to have Tommy Wiseau as a friend, I totally understood. I've been in a situation where I was friends with someone (though not bizarre) that was just exhausting to be around. And you're not sure why you're still friends with the person, except maybe that you think it'd be less drama just to remain friends.
I shared several passages from the book on Facebook, and my friends who also have seen the Room were equally as amused (and in some cases, horrified) as I was. Those who haven't seen the movie, or don't share my love of bad movies, obviously wouldn't get much out of this book other than a guy who is trying to be an actor and a really, really crappy movie set that makes no sense. But that's the charm, at least for people like me. I've been in plays where everything goes wrong, so I could commiserate with Sestero and the other actors and the crew. They're just trying to do the best they can (or in some cases, trying to get through the best they can; Sestero admits that he phoned in most of his performance and in some cases just didn't even bother trying), in a very strange working environment.
At the end of the day, I was very sorry to read the last sentence. This book is a rare glimpse into the making of a cult classic, and into the weird life of Tommy Wiseau. I greatly enjoyed the included photos, and each little anecdote was, if not important, at least amusing. The Room is a very peculiar phenomenon, and to be able to read about it, to see what it was like to be a part of it, was awesome.
To make a long story short, I loved this book.
wintrovia's review against another edition
4.0
This is the story about the making of The Room, commonly described as one of the worst films ever made. Or the best worst film ever made. Or “The Citizen Kane of bad movies”, which is an interesting mixture of compliment and insult. It’s written by Greg Sestero, who co-starred and produced the film alongside Tommy Wiseau, the director, writer, star and financial backer of the project.
Tommy is a fascinating character and the book does a great job of capturing a true eccentric at both his worst and best. The story of how the film was made is probably more interesting than the film itself, as the production was constantly troubled by the quirky whims of Tommy.
I love reading stories about how films are made, particularly when it all goes a bit wrong and this film went very wrong and it’s entertaining to find out just how badly things go as Tommy tries to create his masterpiece.
Whether this book is a completely accurate account of the events around the film and the relationship between Greg and Tommy Wiseau is something only the two of them will know for sure. It’s hard to imagine that anyone could remember such vast amounts of dialogue ten years after something happened, so it’s more likely the book captures some of the spirit of what happened but uses artistic license to fill in the specifics.
Tommy Wiseau himself claims the book is about 40 to 50 percent accurate. Even if that the case, if you take 60 percent of his worst moments out of the book there would still be plenty of embarrassing stories and ridiculous situations left over.
I found myself warming to Tommy increasingly as the book goes along. The timeline jumps back and forth between the production of the film and the early days of Greg and Tommy’s unlikely friendship, in the years building up to the film project starting.
Tommy is a manipulative and unreasonable man for much of the time but he also has many positive qualities and it’s hard not to find his puppy-like devotion to telling his story charming and almost inspirational. If someone so inept can make a film surrounded by people that don’t think he can then surely anyone could.
I felt that the book probably didn’t do enough to highlight how much Tommy Wiseau achieved in making The Room. It might have been a stinker, but it was nearly all his own work. Very few people have the vision and ambition to follow through on such a plan. I suppose you can’t get too carried away with it, as it’s just dreadful but it’s become a kind of cult hit because of how terrible it is.
My feelings about Greg, the author of the book and Tommy’s co-star, weren’t quite as easy to work out. He puts himself in the middle of the story and while he’s self-deprecating at times, he doesn’t seem to fully acknowledge the role he played in making The Room the piece of crap it turned out to be.
It’s clear from the book that Greg was a trusted friend of Tommy’s, possibly his only friend, and Greg didn’t seem to do a lot to help Tommy to improve his project. Looking at the facts of their relationship it seems to me that Greg did pretty well out of it, almost to the point where you could accuse him of taking advantage of someone that was clearly not very stable.
I also felt that Greg used this book as an opportunity to write his own memoir of being a failed actor, despite a lot of his personal journey not really adding anything to the story. There are long passages about his early experiences modeling, getting signed up to an agent and going to auditions that are really not needed and could have been cut from the story without any harm being done.
But apart from some minor grumbles about Greg, I think this is an excellent book. It’s written solidly and there are moments that made me genuinely laugh out loud, which is a cliche but incredibly rare, even in the funniest book, but I enjoyed hearing about Tommy’s exploits so much that I couldn’t help but laugh at the most extreme moments.
Tommy is a fascinating character and the book does a great job of capturing a true eccentric at both his worst and best. The story of how the film was made is probably more interesting than the film itself, as the production was constantly troubled by the quirky whims of Tommy.
I love reading stories about how films are made, particularly when it all goes a bit wrong and this film went very wrong and it’s entertaining to find out just how badly things go as Tommy tries to create his masterpiece.
Whether this book is a completely accurate account of the events around the film and the relationship between Greg and Tommy Wiseau is something only the two of them will know for sure. It’s hard to imagine that anyone could remember such vast amounts of dialogue ten years after something happened, so it’s more likely the book captures some of the spirit of what happened but uses artistic license to fill in the specifics.
Tommy Wiseau himself claims the book is about 40 to 50 percent accurate. Even if that the case, if you take 60 percent of his worst moments out of the book there would still be plenty of embarrassing stories and ridiculous situations left over.
I found myself warming to Tommy increasingly as the book goes along. The timeline jumps back and forth between the production of the film and the early days of Greg and Tommy’s unlikely friendship, in the years building up to the film project starting.
Tommy is a manipulative and unreasonable man for much of the time but he also has many positive qualities and it’s hard not to find his puppy-like devotion to telling his story charming and almost inspirational. If someone so inept can make a film surrounded by people that don’t think he can then surely anyone could.
I felt that the book probably didn’t do enough to highlight how much Tommy Wiseau achieved in making The Room. It might have been a stinker, but it was nearly all his own work. Very few people have the vision and ambition to follow through on such a plan. I suppose you can’t get too carried away with it, as it’s just dreadful but it’s become a kind of cult hit because of how terrible it is.
My feelings about Greg, the author of the book and Tommy’s co-star, weren’t quite as easy to work out. He puts himself in the middle of the story and while he’s self-deprecating at times, he doesn’t seem to fully acknowledge the role he played in making The Room the piece of crap it turned out to be.
It’s clear from the book that Greg was a trusted friend of Tommy’s, possibly his only friend, and Greg didn’t seem to do a lot to help Tommy to improve his project. Looking at the facts of their relationship it seems to me that Greg did pretty well out of it, almost to the point where you could accuse him of taking advantage of someone that was clearly not very stable.
I also felt that Greg used this book as an opportunity to write his own memoir of being a failed actor, despite a lot of his personal journey not really adding anything to the story. There are long passages about his early experiences modeling, getting signed up to an agent and going to auditions that are really not needed and could have been cut from the story without any harm being done.
But apart from some minor grumbles about Greg, I think this is an excellent book. It’s written solidly and there are moments that made me genuinely laugh out loud, which is a cliche but incredibly rare, even in the funniest book, but I enjoyed hearing about Tommy’s exploits so much that I couldn’t help but laugh at the most extreme moments.
z0diackiller's review against another edition
5.0
What a captivating and well-written account of Greg's experience with The Room. I'll admit I felt enchanted by Tommy Wiseau before, but now I know he is the most endearing, fascinating, genuine, and brave man either on this or his own planet.
whatrachelreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75