Starring: Tommy Wiseau, Greg Sestero, Kristin StephensonPino, Vince Jolivette, Rick Edwards
Distributor: Other
Runtime: 99 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2018
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Tommy Wiseau is back! The perhaps-good news is that he is still a terrible actor and that seems to be what his audiences want of him. Given his performance here, it would seem that he thinks he is a very good actor. Otherwise, this film is bad news for most audiences. It is one of those seeing is disbelieving movies!
An initial appropriate piece of advice. This is a film only for those who liked the cult film, with the attribution that it is one of the worst films ever made, The Room. The star and director of that film was Tommy Wiseau who is the star of this one. His co-star, Greg Sestero, who also wrote the book about the making of The Room, is here again.
The film is directed by Justin McGregor who, on the evidence of this film, might be considered a terrible director, but actually might be a very good director following the instructions of Sesterio, who wrote and produced the film, to make it as deadpan and as amateurish in performance, situations, visual style, editing and pace as possible.
Audiences who haven’t seen The Room may well know it from the James Franco film, The Disaster Artist, a film about the making of The Room, with Franco himself as Wiseau and his brother, Dave Franco, as Sestero. Franco won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for this role and was present at the ceremony at table with Wiseau himself.
One of the troubles is that Wiseau is in no way a sympathetic screen presence. His stilted delivery with a touch of accent (allegedly from Poland many decades ago), his awkward stances, and an unpleasant character, are rather alienating – although, this is the point for those who will enjoy this film. And, Greg Sestero has a very limited range as his friend, Jon. Actually, there are a couple of actors in brief supporting roles who do a decent job and show up the stars!
If you heard that the film was about the manager of a morgue who extracts gold teeth from corpses, especially Chinese in Los Angeles whose mouths seem to be filled with gold fillings, then you’d have a fairly accurate explanation of the basis of the story. He befriends, Jon, a homeless man with corny placards begging for money (Sestero himself). They actually have a scheme going whereby a crooked entrepreneur sells the boxes fall of gold teeth to make a fortune.
With a title like Best F(r)iends, we guess (rightly) that there will be a falling out. This is engineered by John’s girlfriend who gives a better performance than the two men.
And then it stops. It is now revealed that this film is Volume 1 and there is a promise/threat that there will be Best F(r)iends Volume 2 – and, taking a leaf out of the Marvel Universe movies, the final credits have extended highlights of a trailer in which Wiseau, with a wig aping Sestero’s hair, has to be seen to be believed. On the other hand, the film does not necessarily have to be seen!
Undoubtedly, this will also be a cult film, a definite curiosity item.
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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