Break Thru Films
Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Larry A. Thompson, Don Rickles, Bari Pearlman, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Donald Trump, Jack Paar
This documentary was made as Joan turned 75 years old. It is a delightful documentary which features a lot of background on Joan’s life as well as clips of her performances over the last half century from the time she was in her early twenties. All the good and the bad are equally shown. No punches were held as anyone as talented and funny as Joan has to be driven to the max as well as a little bit crazy. Joan talks about many of the infamous moments in her life, from her early appearances on the Jack Paar Show and the famous breakup with Johnny Carson when she was banned from NBC for years because she took a full time gig as a competitive talk show on FOX against Johnny. Also is the devastation of her husbands suicide and her close ties to her daughter Melissa whom Joan protects like a mother hen.
This goes all the way up through the appearance of Joan and Melissa on Celebrity Apprentice and the hard times and good times of that experience. Joan is a workaholic and from the early days when she was a writer (which she never gave up) to the challenges of her acting career. Joan says that she wanted to be an actress more than anything. This film is quick and well edited and is a good story. Much detail (and Joan’s famous foul mouth) fills up this documentary, and Joan talks about why she did “blue” comedy, and why she hates when people tell her that she “knocked down walls and opened the door” for others. She explains why she takes offense to that. All in all it was a good time watching this film. I recommend it to anyone who isn’t offended by the language and subject, and who would be interested in the background of Joan’s amazing life.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Movie Review - Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) {R},
