Tribeca Film Festival Review

“Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work”

Reviewed 14 April 2010 by Ted Faraone

3 ½ stars out of five; $8.50 ticket on a scale of $0 to $12.50

OH, PLEASE!  IT’S AN EXCELLENT PIECE OF WORK

Anyone in America who does not know who Joan Rivers is has either never watched TV or has lived in ignorance.  She is both a comic icon, poster girl for plastic surgery, and TV star.  She is now subject of the theatrical docu, “Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work,” seen at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

She also made what may be the dumbest move in the history of late night TV by giving up a steady job as guest host of NBC’s “Tonight” for Johnny Carson in favor of a half baked offer from Fox to host a competing late night program.  She not only destroyed her relationship with Carson -- he never forgave what he regarded as betrayal -- but also got herself banned from NBC for 20 years.  It is not inconceivable that she, not Jay Leno, would be hosting “Tonight” had she not done so.  Rivers has had to reinvent herself repeatedly, a fact which helmers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg capture their subject telling us repeatedly.

Docu is 14 months in Rivers’ life ending in summer 2009.  It’s Rivers kick-starting her career again at age 75 after a lull which found her playing gigs in The Bronx at 4:30 pm.

Pic opens with a tight shot of a somewhat weather-beaten Rivers putting on her makeup.  She looks better without it.  The warpaint emphasizes the work she has had done.  The morning ritual is a metaphor for pic’s subject -- always stage ready and constantly in motion.

Filmmakers offer every aspect of Rivers’ life that can be shown on a screen.  Unfortunately, her foul-mouthed stage act will keep the kids away, and that’s too bad, because at 75 she has not lost a step.  She is as funny as she was as a regular on “Tonight,” where your critic first saw her as a kid, and way better than many younger comics.  She excels at her craft.

Newspaper clippings, film and video clips of TV appearances and her many stage acts, including two plays - the latest an Edinburgh Festival premiere that found its way to London’s West End, are interwoven in a semi-vertié editing job.  Together with some supers, they help filmmakers cram a packed life into a mere 84 minutes.

Through it all, rivers is working, rehearsing, negotiating deals, signing books, selling stuff on QVC and eventually re-inventing herself as the winner of season two of Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” marking the end of her ban from NBC.

There are sour notes as well as grace notes, both largely provided by the subject.  Some associates talk on camera -- so do daughter Melissa and comic Don Rickles, for whom Rivers opens in a 4,000 seat Las Vegas theater -- and she kills.  So does Rickles in his interview -- perfect timing at almost 90 years old.

“Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work” is rated R largely for language.  Tech credits, especially lensing done on the run, are good.  Pic goes into limited US release in New York City on 11 June 2010.

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