BEST F(R)IENDS VOLUME ONE: Sideshow Allies

Independent theatres can rejoice – Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero are finally back with a new film, giving a quick break from having to play The Room every month with this interesting comeback, but hey, at least screening this doesn’t leave plastic spoons all over the matinee floors.

Best F(r)iends Volume 1 is a new collaboration from actor/writer Greg Sestero and beloved cult director Tommy Wiseau. It arrives in the wake of James Franco‘s Oscar-nominated biopic about the two accidental auteurs, The Disaster Artist, a recreation of the drama behind the making of The Room, the definitive “so bad it’s good” masterpiece that cemented the pair as the modern kings of cult cinema.

The Cult Stars Comeback

As pioneers of the “so bad its good” genre, any new material from Wiseau and Sestero comes armed with a set of heightened expectations and an immediate need to ridicule. Wiseau’s self-funded web series The Neighbours, his only directorial experiment since his famous first effort, was quickly dismissed by audiences due to its flat-out atrocious quality, with no attempt to actually try to be a proper television program.

As many modern aspiring genre directors have ultimately found out, making a cult hit is not something that can be done on purpose and straight away, no matter how many “Future Cult Classic!” pull quotes you stick on your marketing material. It’s these preconceived notions that Best F(r)iends has fun playing with, a tricky endeavour that’s competently managed by the film’s director, newcomer Justin MacGregor.

Owing to Greg Sestero’s script, MacGregor aims to dismantle all of our natural preconceptions, challenging our predictions of what we should expect from a new Sestero/Wiseau project. The best way to describe this quirky drama is like this: it’s a movie which takes its time to happily paint a dartboard on its face, patiently setting itself up for the bombardment of darts that is sure to follow. But with all this going on, what sort of film are we getting in the process?

An Esoteric Story

For those not paying attention, the opening scene might trick people into thinking they’ve accidentally stumbled into Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin, as Best F(r)iends begins with an unwashed, bearded man who is seen stumbling through an unforgiving city, wearing a white shirt splattered with a thick layer of splattered blood. Instead of Macon Blair, its Greg Sestero as the homeless drifter Jon, an army veteran whose only possession is the (bloody) shirt on his back. His days spent busking and silently stalking the streets eventually conclude with an encounter with Harvey (Tommy Wiseau), an eccentric mortician who sees Jon’s desperation and offers him a part-time gig at his funeral home.

Parallels to The Disaster Artist book immediately flare up at this point, as an unconventional friendship between the two men is formed (the opening title card states that this is based upon true events). It’s obvious that the script has been penned by Sestero himself, because Best F(r)iends feels autobiographical, a heightened illustration of what fuels his persistent bond with Wiseau.

Major fans of the two men will notice subtle references to their lives penetrating the narrative, which include Harvey’s bizarre fashion choices, his affinity for keys, and an obsessive love for Old Hollywood icons. This interpretation is made conclusive with the plot’s eventual direction, which sees Jon investigating the mysterious origins of Harvey, an illusive figure who insists that he’s from America (despite his thick European accent).

When Harvey teaches Jon the fundamentals of corpse preparation, the opportunistic Jon notices his mentor’s colossal stash of harvested gold teeth, a potential ‘goldmine’ (haha) for a great deal of wealth. He then discovers a black market for these kind of jewels, and after stealing some for himself and successfully pawning them, he pulls Harvey into the scheme. There’s a nucleus of a real cracking idea here, one which feels like a modern-day reinterpretation of the old Burke and Hare story.

Thankfully Its Not The Room 2

Its third act descends into a series of sequel setups (including a brief cameo by comedian Paul Scheer), letting you know pretty early on that this “Volume One” entry does not intend to conclude any of its current plot threads, which honestly makes for a pretty unsatisfying experience – even Avengers: Infinity War had the basic instinct to at least feel like a contained story. A mid-credit teaser trailer, delivered in the classic Back to the Future: Part III fashion, presents a wildly different looking sequel, a rapid stream of incomprehensible images that feels like the intentionally ‘bad’ film that this entry tried so hard to avoid being. Just look at Samurai Cop 2, Tommy Wiseau’s done that shtick before, and it didn’t quite work then.

Unlike Samurai Cop 2, I think the bad performances can be tolerated here, because as we understand, the actual acting requirement necessary here is minimal, as even the most layered, pearl-clutching rendition would simply be more fodder for scrutiny. Wiseau’s unique vocal inflections are always hilarious, even if he has a tendency to trail off or repeat key phrases in ways that are clearly not scripted, and make important moments of exposition hard to understand.

A degree of forgiveness must be rewarded due to the film’s micro-budget nature, but, especially with the worldwide appreciation for its two stars, one would’ve thought that the production would’ve been able to afford/have access to an abundance of high-tech cinematic gear that would’ve helped them enhance the cheap-looking cinematography. To define ‘cheap’ cinematography is digital photography with unbalanced lighting, compositions with hard edges that feel more like documented home footage than anything truly cinematic.

Best F(r)iends: Conclusion

Best F(r)iends: Volume One fluctuates wildly between being a subtle crime drama and the goofy comedy that people have expected from Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero. There’s an undeniable level of entertainment to be had here, but I would classify this as one that definitely needs to be seen with a crowd. Its dramatic ambitions are a step in the right direction for the legendary pair, but its low-budget nature severely limits its potential, especially when it comes to its technical credits.

To really enjoy this picture, one must require severe acclimatisation to the ‘so bad it’s good’ style of filmmaking, the only discernible way to get the most out of Justin MacGregor’s tame debut.

What do you think of the works of Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTu9N40E_MI