A very entertaining documentary on a comedic legend.

Not enough said about husband's suicide, but still highly revealing if vacillating feelings towards Rivers r any indication. Unbridled admiration 4 what seems 2 b a determined pioneer w/ an exceptional work ethic gradually gives way 2 uncertainty over a woman who seems 2 be driven by a massive case of OCD brought on by unflagging insecurities. Either way, watching such a successful headcase whose life has been molded & shaped by the worst aspects of "the business" makes 4 a compelling doc.

At times surprisingly candid documentary which plays much better on TV than I imagine it would have on the big screen. Opinion is likely to reflect your opinion of Rivers; funny at times, irritating and superficial at others, but overall highly enjoyable. Byplay between Joan and daughter Melissa is quite amusing, but the scene with Joan's grandson feels suspiciously staged, like some other parts of the film. An accurate and enjoyable character profile, if a little self-serving at times.

A worthwhile re-examination of a life, especially as the vitality of River's comedic legacy has been so greatly overshadowed by her public reincarnation as vapid red carpet bitch and plastic surgery atrocity. As a doc, it's messy and frivolous as the woman herself, but it captures a whole range of her ups and downs, from her comedy highlights to a shouting match about disabled children, and what comes across through everything is her pathological need to be ceaselessly at work in the public eye.

I'm a big fan of documentaries about successful people, what makes this one interesting is that there is much more of an up and down with Joan than with most and her attitudes about her success are extremely different than most. It's worth noting that I honestly used to hate Joan Rivers, I only knew her as that old woman on E!. This doc show that I was very wrong. It's urprisingly well edited too.

Good doc. I never realized how important Joan Rivers is to comedy as a whole, but specifically women. Just a very, very interesting look into an even more interesting life.

An delving portrait and insightful documentary on the pit-falls and perks of semi-stardom.

Nothing -- not even daughter Melissa's assessment of all comedians as "damaged" -- validates this worshipful portrait of craven showbiz.

I'm not a huge Joan Rivers fan or anything, but I think she's pretty funny. This documentary covers some interesting ground: Joan's falling out with Carson, her husband's suicide, her "Celebrity Apprentice" appearance. I like her attitude about her work, she seems very comfortable dealing with the ups and downs of her career. The film is rather unfocused, and could use something like a developing theme. But it holds together well enough and doesn't make any noticeable missteps.

"There's plenty to laugh at in Stern and Sundberg's picture, both in the footage of Rivers on stage and in front of the filmmakers' camera." - Andrew Schenker

The Hollywood machine churns 'em up and spits 'em out, particularly women, but Joan Rivers will not go gentle into that good night. Here is her portrait, confronting old age and growing irrelevance not with comfort but with fear and loathing and tooth-and-nail desperation. A telling moment: Rivers refers to herself not as a comedian but an actress playing a comedian; the role has subsumed the person. A sad reminder of Vonnegut's warning: "You are what you pretend to be"

Documentary filmmakers Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg cover a year in the life of the stand-up comic, and they find, beneath the surgically stretched and smoothed mask (with abundant archive footage to show how she used to look), a vulnerable, driven, hard-working, needy, even desperate human being, albeit not a terribly funny or discriminating comedienne. There turns out to be much more to her than you see in the red-carpet host for the Academy Awards.

Fascinating, entertaining and honest look at Joan Rivers' workaholic life.

the look of a woman who hasn't lost "it," and is still fighting for appreciation. however, this documentary doesn't do its subject justice. it skims past the most interesting parts of her life, before giving the viewer a superficial view of her.

A well constructed documentary that shows one of the slower years of Rivers' life. The lack of work is agonising for Rivers, who has a seemingly insatiable desire to perform. Stern and Sundberg do a good job of exploring why Joan has no interest in retiring.

Interesting look into her life. Has some interesting life perspectives from someone who's career is so long yet not over.

She considers herself an actress, but she is never taken seriously as one, partly because she is a great comedienne. She's not as famous as she deserves to be as a comedienne (and she really is funny) because of certain incidents in her past and her basically becoming the face of plastic surgery (and becoming sort of a joke because of it). All things considered she is an amazing woman who works extremely hard at her craft and has an amazing amount of energy for being in her 70s.

Never been too much in the know about Rivers but this is an interesting production. Her stand up is quite funny and its great to see she still puts this much energy into her work considering her age. I don't think the directors ever let us see whats truly beneath the mask. As even with River's comments on the industry, the documentary seems to go for a more happy-go-lucky outlook. Decent.