Comedian (2002)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Seinfeld was a flagship of NBC's Must See TV, and this documentary about Jerry Seinfeld (and Orny Adams) is must see for sure even if you never watched Seinfeld.Even though Mr Seinfeld was on top after his hit series Seinfeld, and wouldn't have to worry about paying the bills or flying coach, this documentary detailed the insecurity he had in rebooting his stand-up career. I think in the documentary someone said that an aspiring stand-up comic is given only a minute to prove their worth on stage before the audience turns on you (or turns away). Jerry's mega-fame only gave him three minutes believe it or not to demonstrate to the fickle stand-up crowd he has what it takes.What surprised me was how the audience and stand-up staff didn't get all celebrity starry-eyed when they saw Mr Seinfeld.I also liked the Orny Adams subplot, as he seeks to establish a footing. It's good to see him doing well, and playing the coach in Teen Wolf, the TV series.The director's commentary is definitely worth listening to.

After cocreating and starring for nine years in THE sitcom of the '90s, and rightfully earning hundreds of millions of dollars doing so, funnyman Jerry Seinfeld did not do what I would have done; namely, lay in a hammock by the ocean for the rest of his life. To his great credit, Seinfeld decided to go back to what he loves most: doing stand-up material in front of an audience. Director Christian Charles' 2002 documentary "Comedian," it must be stated, is not so much a performance film as it is a primer in how very difficult it is to put an hour's worth of "killer" material together. This is not a Jerry Seinfeld biography, but rather a collection of glimpses into the lives of working comics. During the course of the film, as Jerry painstakingly--and sometimes painfully--puts his new act together, he talks to such established names as Jay Leno, Gary Shandling, Bill Cosby (his childhood hero, apparently), Robert Klein (whose joke about Florida may be the film's funniest) and Ray Romano. For contrast, perhaps half the film is taken up by the travails of a talented and cocky aspiring comic named Orny Adams, whose various struggles really show us how difficult the comedy business can be. I mean, here it is, more than six years since Orny's Letterman debut, and he is still hardly a household name, right? The net result for most viewers will most likely be a realization of how hard it is to just get up there and tell jokes; forget about making it big in the business! On the down side, "Comedian" features excessively choppy editing, overlapped dialogue that is often hard to make out, and just not enough actual performance footage. The film does have a cumulative effect, however, and the sum does wind up equalling more than its many jagged parts. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

I have watched this twice and it seems you have to personally want/need to entertain to appreciate it. The process of performing or a performance is both immensely nerve racking and ultimately very satisfying. Comedian will draw you in to that process as opposed to entertaining you as a viewer with stand-up comedy. The main quest is the pursuit of a lengthy comedy act. Seinfeld's personal struggle is not intensely dramatic or humorous but rather very compelling to you the performer; "how can I validate myself all over again when I don't need the money, what am I here for?" I would recommend this to anyone who wants to do stand-up or sketch comedy or theater, or any other live performance for that matter. If this is you then you will appreciate the process Seinfeld goes through because it is the journey back to his calling, what made Seinfeld matter to you and me.

What a disappointment.The problem here is not that I was expecting something like the show. I understood what this was about going into the theatre. It's not "Seinfeld" the TV show. The whole point of this documentary is that Jerry's hit the club circuit again, and that he's trying out a whole new style of comedy rather than the "Humorous observations about everyday life" that made him famous. The problem is that it's simply not a very good documentary. It's erratic and disjointed. It was marketed as a documentary about Jerry Seinfeld, but instead we're forced to spend half the movie listening to a nobody who fails to capture our attention or sympathy in any way. Towards the end, Jerry drops in on Bill Cosby and we don't really know why. Even worse, the conversation between the two is awkward, rambling, boring, and offers absolutely no new insights into either man.A documentary should teach you something. When you walk out of the theatre, you should have some new insights into the subject matter. By that standard, this film is a complete failure. In the end, all it really tells us is that being a stand up comedian on the club circuit isn't easy. But is there anybody who didn't already know that?