Need Joan Rivers to play your nephew’s birthday party?
Give her a call. She’ll probably take the gig for the right price.
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” details a year in the life of a comedy legend, a woman who refuses to soak in her fame or take so much as a break between assignments.
It’s the tale of a survivor whose pungent punch lines broke comedy’s glass ceiling.
The documentary feels too much in cahoots with the performer herself – we keep getting the runaround on topics that should be revealed in greater detail – but it’s still an intriguing portrait of a woman whose scars can’t be covered by plastic surgery.
Rivers, at 75, isn’t slowing down. She considers an empty appointment calendar the kiss of death, and she’ll do anything to stay in the public eye.
That means appearing on every radio show which will have her, scrapping for a role in dreck like “Celebrity Apprentice” and even working ramshackle stand-up clubs to keep her career afloat.
She’s a fighter, no doubt, but we’re never privy to the demons which keep her up at night. Her horrific plastic surgery is mentioned only briefly, and the suicide death of her husband is given little screen time.
To hear Rivers tell it, the TV movie she made with her daughter, Melissa, about his death wrapped up her mourning in one tidy bow.
There’s always Rivers the comic, a performer seemingly untouched by time. We watch flashes of her blistering stage act – both via clips from “The Tonight Show” and peeks at her current routines – and see a methodology that hasn’t changed a lick.
She practically created the politically incorrect stage show, blasting away at topics others feared to touch. And she’s still doing it, whipping up 9/11 jokes and other material a wiser comic would avoid.
“A Piece of Work” begins like a second-rate reality show, but once directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg broaden the focus the star attraction comes into focus.
But couldn’t we hear more from her fellow legends? Kathy Griffin, Rivers’ unofficial heir, pays tribute to Rivers’ impact on her career. But where are the great industry anecdotes, the howling tales of Rivers at her peak?
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” captures the whirlwind of her current life without letting us get to know the woman behind those caustic barbs.
(Photo: “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” recalls a year in the life of a comedy ground-breaker.IFC Films)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
She seems to enjoy being the butt of everyone’s jokes and it works well for her. It’s part of her appeal. Joan Rivers FTW!
Joan showed herself for what she truly is on the big screen, she laid it all out in front of us. I was truly impressed by her honesty
An interesting take, indeed.
Reminds me of Rickles – a near-legendary respected comic, but not quite adapted to modern times yet respected enough (or determined enough) to continue to get work.
D.
The editing of Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work was so seamlessly tied into the story. Great pace, I really enjoyed it as a film. I also enjoyed the story that it told, and I am very pleased that this worthy story was rewarded with incredible talent by the directors and the rest of the crew.