Just so...so bad

Am I Missing Something?

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The first major strike against this vile, narcissistic "piece of work" was clearly Joan Rivers' hideous, surgically reconstructed, 75-year-old face.Boy, I'm tellin' ya - This real-life replica of a pure plastic-surgery horror-show gave me the worst case of heebie-jeebies that I've ever experienced. From start to finish, every time Joan's creepy, death-warmed-over face appeared on screen, my skin just crawled, like you wouldn't believe.The second major strike against this "Phantom of the Opera" freakshow was Joan's whiny, arrogant attitude. After over 40 years in the business she firmly believed that, even now, the world just wasn't paying enough attention to her as the self-proclaimed "Royal-Highness of Comedy".I mean, snippy, little Joan Rivers was so bloody convinced that she was "funny" personified that she actually had the gall to claim (more than once) that nobody, absolutely nobody, had the right to disagree with her on this all-important matter.Rivers practically came right out and said "I am funny! And I don't allow anyone the freedom to think otherwise! 'Cause if they do, then they are just a fukken, kunt-licking nobody! - So, there!"... (Oh! Really!?) The only really worthwhile moment in the entirety of this snivelling, self-loving, grate-on-your-nerves documentary took place during a live performance where Joan made a really lame "Helen Keller" joke and a fellow in the audience actually spoke right out and told Rivers that her joke wasn't funny. (Applause-Applause!) Well, without missing a beat - Joan's immediate response to this dude's remark was the vile-mouthed delivery of such a hateful flurry of profanity (directed at this fellow) that it certainly proved to me what an utterly contemptible asshole-of-comedy that this 75-year-old relic-from-the-grave really was.It really killed me that inside her immaculately clean & organized NYC dollhouse-of-an-apartment, Rivers stores (in neatly stacked cabinets) a vast, A-Z collection of jokes on file-cards. (Spare me, funny lady!)All-in-all - I found Joan Rivers to be a completely hollow shell-of-a-woman who was so utterly consumed by her belief in her apparent "funniness" that she quickly became nothing but a pathetic, tiresome, old bore.And, with that, I personally proclaim Joan Rivers to be so funny that, yes, you'll forget to laugh.

"A Piece of Work" is a very apt subtitle for this film, since it sums up rather succinctly the driving force behind Joan Rivers' career—she is a woman constantly on the lookout for her next piece of work. Perpetually aware of just how difficult it is to hit a moving target, Rivers never seems to slow down. At the age of 75, she keep herself busier than many working actors/comedians 1/3 her age. Ricki Stern's film chronicles Rivers' career, from her beginnings on "The Tonight Show" through her stint as permanent guest host, her devastating decision to leave that show for her own talk show (a decision that created a rift between Rivers and Johnny Carson that never healed), her husband's suicide, and her struggle to recover from it both personally and professionally. Rivers' daughter Melissa is of course a big part of this film, and her presence creates perhaps an unintentional stark contrast to Rivers herself. Joan is the consummate hard-working, smart, talented, honest professional entertainer, while her daughter, who claims to have chosen a career in show business, actually possesses little or no talent and has forged a "career" in entertainment simply by virtue of her status as Joan's daughter. If Melissa Rivers were not Joan's daughter, I doubt she would be able to find any work at all in the entertainment industry. Be that as it may, "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" is a penetrating and entertaining documentary about the life and career of one of the funniest—if not THE funniest—women in the business.

There were a lot of lists of the Top Ten Films of 2010 but one film was conspicuously absent--Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Maybe because it was a documentary. It's 85 minutes long and it flies by in a blizzard of pleasure.I knew she was funny but I didn't know how funny. And obscene. And did I say hilarious? She's beautiful but she'll kill me for saying that. At 75 she exhausted me going over her daily routine with her assistant. Book signings, a new play, "A Work In Progress" opening in Edinburgh, Comedy Central Roast, honoring George Carlin at the Kennedy Center for the Mark Twain Award, working the 4,000-seat Foxwood Theater and almost every night working out her material doing stand-up in a little club.Watch her parry with an offended heckler in Wisconsin. She gets to the core of comedy, of why it matters so much to her and us—if we didn't laugh, where would we be? Two events involving Johnny Carson were instrumental in her life. To you youngsters out there who say, "Who?" when I mention Carson, he was the undisputed king of late-night talk as host of the Tonight Show. He could make a comedian's career just by smiling at him on the couch next to him. The first time she worked the show, he told her "You're going to be a star". Her career skyrocketed. The other time was when she was offered her own talk show on Fox in 1986 going up against Johnny. When she called to tell him, he hung up on her and never talked to her again.In fact, she was persona non grata at NBC until she did the Donald's "Celebrity Apprentice", a highlight of the movie dropped in the lap of the filmmakers.It was brave of her to allow the two filmmakers, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, to follow her around, but she's pragmatic, tough and protective of her sensitivity to rejection. Her first love was acting. Though her play was a smash in Edinburgh but received lukewarm reviews in London, she stopped work on it immediately because she wasn't going to get hurt the way she was by the New York critics again.Great lines tossed off—she introduces her staff, "Staff, I'm lonely. Who's going to f**k me tonight?" Decades before shock comics she joked about abortion, "She's had 14 appendectomies (you know what I mean), flying back and forth to Puerto Rico, and she's walking down the aisle in white? Puleez!" And the bit about anal sex, priceless.She'll hate me for saying this, but she is an icon and an inspiration. She killed me with her mouth and mind going a mile a minute and so many f**ks I thought it was Jenna Jamison up there. Only kidding! The filmmaking is intimate but in your face and there's not an ounce of fat on it. If you haven't seen it, do so. It'll blast you out of your seat like a shot of Tabasco.

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.