Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work 2010
I always thought Joan Rivers was funny and usually entertaining, but she wasn’t a favorite of mine, though I actually liked Fashion Police. Nonetheless she had an amazingly long career filled with all kinds of ups and downs. This movie, made in 2008 and 2009, follows her for a year as she starts out in a career lull, but finds her way back. She is clearly a workaholic and will do anything to stay busy and pay the bills, which are substantial. You meet some of her inner circle and see what life is like for her. She is still playing clubs but doesn’t have to rely on constantly touring. She is successful, she just wants to be more successful. Her big thing in her act is to say outrageous things for laughs, much rougher than her TV persona. And, like many comics, she is filled with doubts and fears that can only be remedied with laughs and applause. She is tough and fragile, fearless and paranoid. And she works very hard, grabbing any opportunity to make money, whether it is hawking jewelry on QVC, writing books (and going on signing tours), appearing on cruises, reality TV, or making commercials. The movie is a good portrait of that life and a career too long and hard fought to be an accident, but also kind of sad. The movie is good, but not great, probably just another gig for her to fill her event planner and pay some bills. Focusing on her frailties it misses a lot of the magic and triumph of her career, maybe because she herself always wanted more.
Written: 05 Mar 2019
Owned on: Blu-ray