I suppose "Homeless in L.A." didn't sound big enough, HUUUHHH? You can tell that you are getting yourself into something special before the actual film even starts. At the very beginning you get the "Wiseau Films" intro we know from 'The Room' that I can swear is basically stolen from another movie production intro (including the music). Then comes "Wiseau~Films Presents" (yes, it actually uses "~". Then "Produced by Tommy Wiseau". Then the movie title in some Gothic-looking font. Then "A Wiseau-Films Production". And finally "Directed by Tommy Wiseau". So much for the first 40 seconds.
After the credits - which end with "Concept by Tommy Wiseau" - you get a narration by a guy who sounds like a light version of Tommy Wiseau. He's got his funky accent but only lightly. The narrator gives us a speech that he apparently stole from a 4th grader who had to do a presentation on homelessness. It starts: "The city of Los Angeles-es rate of homeless-ness is higher than the US average because it has a higher rate of poverty and higher housing costs. 84,000 people were homeless EACH night in L.A. County alone according to a 1995 study..."
At the beginning it seems that the interviewer's investigatory questioning will never go beyond: "OK, your name is?" "And how long have you been living on the street, [ name ]?" They possibly all gave fake names (like "Lester Walter McDonald") but some fake names are more obvious and of course it all remains uncommented. Am I right, Ghost, Batman and Minnie Mouse? (I'm not kidding, those are actually names that were given by the interviewees.) After almost ten minutes of this the film eventually comes back to many of those people and they are actually asked other questions.
Kaya Redford, the guy who's interviewing them, who did the narration at the beginning and who, besides Wiseau, is largely responsible for this film is the perfect mixture of Joe Dallesandro and Sam Worthington. As you can see on his IMDb page he's OBVIOUSLY a gym buddy of Wiseau's and one of his greatest hobbies seems to be getting photographs of himself with famous people and putting them up on IMDb (WOW, did you see him with Paris Hilton! Just WOW!). Imagine that guy with his long blond hair sitting next to homeless people acting all affected while they talk about how "homeless people are good people" and so on.
Eventually the documentary does become somewhat acceptable, as in you don't laugh all the way through it anymore, but of course it very much comes across as aimless and unstructured.
For fans of Tommy Wiseau as a person I'll warn you that he unfortunately isn't much in this movie. Only for a few seconds actually, holding up one hand for a high-five to that guy next to him asking: "How you doin', what's your name?" to which he replies while acting surprised that Wiseau talked to him: "How you doin', man, my name is Batman." Then Wiseau asks "How old are you now?" and gets the reply "I'm 24 years old", then it cuts away to the next scene. Neither of them were seen again in the film.
After the credits - which end with "Concept by Tommy Wiseau" - you get a narration by a guy who sounds like a light version of Tommy Wiseau. He's got his funky accent but only lightly. The narrator gives us a speech that he apparently stole from a 4th grader who had to do a presentation on homelessness. It starts: "The city of Los Angeles-es rate of homeless-ness is higher than the US average because it has a higher rate of poverty and higher housing costs. 84,000 people were homeless EACH night in L.A. County alone according to a 1995 study..."
At the beginning it seems that the interviewer's investigatory questioning will never go beyond: "OK, your name is?" "And how long have you been living on the street, [ name ]?" They possibly all gave fake names (like "Lester Walter McDonald") but some fake names are more obvious and of course it all remains uncommented. Am I right, Ghost, Batman and Minnie Mouse? (I'm not kidding, those are actually names that were given by the interviewees.) After almost ten minutes of this the film eventually comes back to many of those people and they are actually asked other questions.
Kaya Redford, the guy who's interviewing them, who did the narration at the beginning and who, besides Wiseau, is largely responsible for this film is the perfect mixture of Joe Dallesandro and Sam Worthington. As you can see on his IMDb page he's OBVIOUSLY a gym buddy of Wiseau's and one of his greatest hobbies seems to be getting photographs of himself with famous people and putting them up on IMDb (WOW, did you see him with Paris Hilton! Just WOW!). Imagine that guy with his long blond hair sitting next to homeless people acting all affected while they talk about how "homeless people are good people" and so on.
Eventually the documentary does become somewhat acceptable, as in you don't laugh all the way through it anymore, but of course it very much comes across as aimless and unstructured.
For fans of Tommy Wiseau as a person I'll warn you that he unfortunately isn't much in this movie. Only for a few seconds actually, holding up one hand for a high-five to that guy next to him asking: "How you doin', what's your name?" to which he replies while acting surprised that Wiseau talked to him: "How you doin', man, my name is Batman." Then Wiseau asks "How old are you now?" and gets the reply "I'm 24 years old", then it cuts away to the next scene. Neither of them were seen again in the film.
