Directed By: Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg
Starring: Joan Rivers
MPAA Rating: R
My Rating: 9 / 10
Honesty...it is what has defined Joan Rivers, it is what has made her a legend, and yet it is also what has made her a target of the very people who should employ her. When her manager bluntly calls the rest of the cast of The Celebrity Apprentice a bunch of "F-listers," normal celebrities would have to issue an apology and kiss their costars' asses for the next two months, no matter how true they believed the statement to be. But, let's face it, Annie Duke and Brande Roderick are F-listers...and, as vicious as it is, brutal honesty has a sort of uncomfortable freshness about it. And no one does "brutal" better than Joan Rivers, who famously uses the f-word like it's going out of style and verbally berated a heckler during a stand-up routine. Her calling the heckler a "stupid ass" and a "son of a bitch" is documented here, and the moment is just as uncomfortable on film as it must have been in person. Though, while uncomfortable, it is also fascinating...we can practically see Joan Rivers fighting to keep the audience on her side because, while Joan has become famous by being brutally honest about others, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is about her being honest with herself, and the stark reality that haunts her everyday is that everyone, from her harshest critic to the guy in the front row, is waiting for her to fail.
And so Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is not the autobiographical, E! True Hollywood Story-style documentary you are probably expecting. No, instead, it is an achingly honest portrayal of a woman who, despite being a living legend, has never been quite good enough for herself. In an early scene, she picks up her blank datebook, moves her perfectly-manicured fingers across the white pages, and states, "This is fear." While many seventy-five-year-olds are preparing for retirement, if not retired already, Joan is planning a career comeback. When asked why she accepts some ho-hum job in Wisconsin, she boldly proclaims that it's all about the money. She has to keep working for two reasons. The first is her extravagant lifestyle, which her manager justly compared to the Queen of England's. Her palatial apartment, her staff, and her staff's children's private school tuition all depend on her steady stream of income. "I'll do anything," Joan says once, and we believe it. The second and most important is that Joan, as an entertainer, just has to work. She enjoys it, and she is most comfortable on a stage. It is the same reason why a nun has to be a nun, she explains.
The best scenes in the movie deal with Joan's sadness over not being accepted in the industry. Critics lampoon her live show in London, despite uproarious applause from the audience. She can't face the rejection she knows will occur if she brings the show to Broadway so she just cancels it altogether. She speaks at a tribute for George Carlin, knowing that he would disagree with the whole event, just because it's one of the few times she has been included. It's difficult to imagine that the woman who opened (and is still opening) doors for female comedians everywhere could be so shunned. It's especially ironic because, if a man told the exact same jokes as Joan and acted in exactly the same way, he would be applauded. For Joan, because she was the first female comedian to be that racy and to push that many social boundaries, she is still being ostracized. In many ways, she has opened doors for others (like Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler) who have been warmly accepted, while the industry has done everything to keep those same doors closed just for her.
But, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is not an altogether sad film. Ultimately, Joan has been around for so long in part because of her determination and refusal to give up. When big jobs stop calling, she puts on her fur coat and jets to Wisconsin. When she must cancel her play, she joins the cast of The Celebrity Apprentice. When her beloved daughter was (perhaps unjustly) eliminated from the show, Joan came roaring back to win the whole damn thing. Though much of the film deals with the many career setbacks she has experienced, there is an understanding that, as always, Joan will rise again. The documentary, itself, is funny, enlightening, and yes, quite inspiring. Some have said that Joan Rivers is not worthy of a whole documentary, but I would argue otherwise. Her life is a crystal clear view into the unforgiving and downright fickle world of show business. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work lets us in to a world that few ever see and in which most would never choose to live. Joan Rivers hasn't just chosen to live in this world, though; she has fought her way into it and, now, there's nothing that will ever make her leave...probably not even her own death.
The best scenes in the movie deal with Joan's sadness over not being accepted in the industry. Critics lampoon her live show in London, despite uproarious applause from the audience. She can't face the rejection she knows will occur if she brings the show to Broadway so she just cancels it altogether. She speaks at a tribute for George Carlin, knowing that he would disagree with the whole event, just because it's one of the few times she has been included. It's difficult to imagine that the woman who opened (and is still opening) doors for female comedians everywhere could be so shunned. It's especially ironic because, if a man told the exact same jokes as Joan and acted in exactly the same way, he would be applauded. For Joan, because she was the first female comedian to be that racy and to push that many social boundaries, she is still being ostracized. In many ways, she has opened doors for others (like Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler) who have been warmly accepted, while the industry has done everything to keep those same doors closed just for her.
But, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is not an altogether sad film. Ultimately, Joan has been around for so long in part because of her determination and refusal to give up. When big jobs stop calling, she puts on her fur coat and jets to Wisconsin. When she must cancel her play, she joins the cast of The Celebrity Apprentice. When her beloved daughter was (perhaps unjustly) eliminated from the show, Joan came roaring back to win the whole damn thing. Though much of the film deals with the many career setbacks she has experienced, there is an understanding that, as always, Joan will rise again. The documentary, itself, is funny, enlightening, and yes, quite inspiring. Some have said that Joan Rivers is not worthy of a whole documentary, but I would argue otherwise. Her life is a crystal clear view into the unforgiving and downright fickle world of show business. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work lets us in to a world that few ever see and in which most would never choose to live. Joan Rivers hasn't just chosen to live in this world, though; she has fought her way into it and, now, there's nothing that will ever make her leave...probably not even her own death.
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