Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Awesome Movie

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The opening vignette of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work features the then 75 year-old performer without any makeup. She tells us that she awakens every day and immediately applies her beauty products because, "no one wants an old woman". Joan indicates that her bodily alterations, including multiple plastic surgeries, are not simply out her own vanity but out of a desire to remain youthful. As she painfully indicates, the appearance of youth is necessary to remain relevant, or at least attempt to do so. Joan's observations on aging are among other aspects of her life that are examined in this comely documentary.Joan is addicted to what has become her work: comedic entertainment. She did not desire this career, but no one takes her seriously as a non-comedic actress. She has accepted her role and incorporates it into her daily life in relentless pursuit of her business opportunities. As described by her staff and friends, her mania is incredible. She desires nearly every hour of every day to be occupied with stand up performances, book signings, or even TV shows. Joan is also remarkably organized and shows us her categorization process for jokes from each performance. Regardless of what she does, Joan seems to succeed in it.Or so we thought. No, her life isn't a silicone fairy tale. Many slots remain unfulfilled on her calendar and her personality aggravates people. Joan has a unique combination of entitlement and obsession that causes her friends and even her own daughter to become frustrated with her. Perhaps her outrageous "door-opening" comedy over the last decades was a manifestation of this. If she was going to be funny, Joan had to be sure that people would remember her. And it wasn't because she was trying to be a revolutionary. Joan simply wanted and still wants more work opportunities. After half a century undermining herself (by being unable to do what she wants), shouldn't she at least be able to do it peacefully? Apparently not. As we are reminded several times, business is cyclical and sometimes it isn't there. Other times it is. Rivers' style of comedy is polarizing to the point where people are alienated by it. We see how it has been this way for decades, especially when she was younger, and raunchy humor was unspeakable. Today, Joan is still counterintuitive to political correctness, but the world is more tolerant to her humor. Originally, the fact that she was a woman speaking such vulgarity made it funnier. Nowadays, this same business specialty still exists, and it's even funnier because she's an old woman. In her words, "I'm still opening doors." The film's placing her within her real-life working environment is all the more satisfying.River's life and character flaws make for an interesting story. A summation of her accomplishments and ironic role as a feminist figure would have been a fine subject for a documentary. We would still enjoy that kind of film. Yet, despite everything she has done, Joanie is still alive and still in your face. The filmmakers' recognition of her self-view allows them to rebuke our own pre-conceived opinions of both the woman herself and how we place her within history. As we get to know her as she now is, I can't think of a better way to document her life. The film is as emotional and funny as its subject. That triumph results in one of the best films of the year.Recommended

The problem I usually have with documentaries is that, while I find them enlightening, I rarely connect to them on an emotional level. My intellect is stimulated, but I don't usually feel anything. The last documentary that made me feel anything was "Sicko." "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" succeeds in the same way. Here's a woman who is a bit of a joke and an easy Hollywood punching bag. But she shows herself to be quite a complex individual. She's of course funny and a workaholic. She's also quite vulnerable and doesn't take criticism well at all. At times, she's quite likable and very sympathetic. Other times, she seems twisted and self-absorbed. I suppose the real Rivers is a little of both. She's also a joy to spend 90 minutes in a theater with, should the opportunity present itself to you.The film opens with a shot that tells you everything you need to know about this film and its intentions. The shot is an extreme close-up of Rivers without any makeup on. For someone so presumably consumed with her looks, this is a surprising image that tells you this film is going to show you the real Rivers. Like her or not (and many won't), this is her.The rest of the film is loosely broken up into three sections. The first introduces us to the woman and follows Rivers as she develops an autobiographical play and performs it in the UK. The second follows her during her time on "The Celebrity Apprentice." And the final one shows her on the road across America doing comedy shows. Interspersed with these segments are sidebars about Rivers' past—her marriage, her time with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," her relationship with her daughter Melissa, and her annual Thanksgiving charity work.The two biggest things I took away from the film are that Rivers is obsessive (desperate?) about working and that she is incredibly insecure—perhaps the two complement each other. At one point, she is trying to book a commercial. She tells the ad agency's representative that she'll wear diapers, anything, to land a gig. After seeing this film, I believe she would. She's also incredibly self-doubting. When her play opens in London to good, not great, reviews, she immediately decides it won't see the light of day in New York. She says she wouldn't be able to bear the criticism. And when she agrees to do a Comedy Central roast—well, let's just say, it's not pretty.One of the most enlightening, and in some ways off-putting, scenes in the film is when she gets heckled at a show in rural Wisconsin. Rivers makes a joke about hating kids but thinking Helen Keller would be tolerable, and a man yells that he thinks she isn't funny, but mean-spirited. Rivers lays into him. She doesn't hold back at all, and while I hold the belief that comedians should be able to defend themselves as they see fit against hecklers, her expletive-laden tirade crossed a few lines. What was so telling about this scene, though, was just how insecure Rivers is. When one man, a nobody in her life, criticizes her, she viciously lashes out.I really did find this film fascinating for just how complicated it made its star seem. In addition to that, it's also quite funny. Rivers hasn't lost much in 75 years. I'd argue that her best bits are the more recent ones. Most documentaries are intellectual exercises, but not this one. It felt refreshing—not at all like sitting through a lecture. I wasn't a fan of Rivers before. I'm not sure I'm a fan of Rivers now. But a can definitely say I'm a fan of "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," and I would recommend it to just about anyone.

There are definitely some hilarious moments in here. Joan still packs a wallop at 75. Her humour at times is vulgar – but I don't have an issue with that (it's just a warning that the humour is adult oriented). She performs in a broad spectrum of places - from dumps to respectable. Her home in Manhattan is unbelievable – think of Marie Antoinette!! Certainly not a place to sprawl onto the couch!After about an hour I did get tired of her self-obsessive focus. Why would an audience (except her adoring fans) be interested in a play in which she gives a self-history of her rise to fame? There is always a danger when an actor becomes overly self-centered on her legacy. I believe she has fallen into the trap of not looking outward.Nevertheless Joan is hysterical, can laugh at herself and makes us laugh. .

Joan Rivers has done a great deal of good for many female comedians. And what this doc shows is that more than anything, she has an iron will. At 75, she is still on the road and on the stage, and hopes to be for another twenty-five years. All very inspiring. But so what? The documentary itself doesn't go anywhere. We start admiring Rivers for her tenacity, and that's all we end up with. Worse, given her 30-40 year history on stage, there are only a few clips of the past. Most of the doc is Joan talking about herself and her will. We see some very sad clips of her terrified looking daughter, Melissa, and the movie barely touches down on the most interesting fact in the Rivers career--the fact that when her husband failed at producing her talk show, he killed himself. How can you make something like that seem like a footnote? This whole thing could have been a five-minute video set to Donna Summer's I Will Survive, and been a lot more fun. Because oddly, that was the one thing this doc totally missed--fun.