The Disaster Artist

The astounding achievement here is not the meticulous reproduction of scenes--or mis-scenes, if you will--from Tommy Wiseau's disasterpiece The Room; it's the level of sympathy and understanding that the Franco brothers are able to produce for the unyieldingly idiosyncratic auteur. They clearly admire something in the determination--or, perhaps, chutzpah--of the severely untalented would-be movie star; maybe they recognize some piece of themselves in Wiseau, a sense of "there but for the grace of God..." Indeed, by making a comedy about the making of the unintentional comedy, the brothers, one could argue, have actually been derivative of a work that would otherwise be a target of sheer mockery. As for this movie, it is funny, though not non-stop laughs; occasionally, the recreation is cringeworthy, sort of like watching scenes from the UK version of The Office (Wiseau and David Brent have a lot in common). All in all, the whole package is entertaining enough to make this film a good watch, especially if you stick around for the ending--when clips from both films are played side-by-side for comparison--and the post-credits scene, where the doppelgangers meet. Hopefully, everyone who is this hopeless can have his or her moment of triumph--and perhaps this flick can light that way.

Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates

I avoided this movie at first because I loathe Adam DeVine. I ultimately broke down and watched it because I love Anna Kendrick. I figured the one would cancel out the other--and for long portions of this movie, it works out that way. The revelations here are Aubrey Plaza and Zac Efron. The latter is charming and an oddly effortless fit for such ridiculous humor; and if I'd known how funny and cute Plaza could be, I might have checked in on this one much sooner. As for the movie as a whole, it works, up to a point. For a long stretch of its relatively short running time, the film is fearlessly funny, making plenty of comedic hay with healthy doses of crude but not gross humor. Unfortunately, it pulls its punches towards the end, going for the sap instead of sticking to its guns. Plus DeVine eventually goes over the top and makes an ass out of himself instead of letting the comedy do the work for him. Not even the delightful Ms. Kendrick can redeem that act. There are certainly enough laughs to make this one worth a look, if you've got spare time to kill; but it could have been a lot better, with either more or less restraint (depending), and perhaps slightly better casting.