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Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

2010
Documentary, Biography
1h 24m
JOAN RIVERS - A PIECE OF WORK takes the audience on a year long ride with Joan Rivers in her 76th year of life; it peels away the mask of an iconic comedian, laying bare both the struggle and thrill of living life as a groundbreaking female performer. Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT) expose the private dramas of this irreverent, legendary comedian as she fights to keep her career thriving in a business driven by youth and beauty.
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Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

2010
Documentary, Biography
1h 24m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 55% from 199 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(199)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 06 Aug 2010
63
61st
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"
Rated 25 Nov 2010
73
67th
An delving portrait and insightful documentary on the pit-falls and perks of semi-stardom.
Rated 19 Nov 2014
70
50th
Holy fuck that apartment.
Rated 19 Dec 2010
75
54th
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.
Rated 11 Jan 2011
71
21st
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.
Rated 07 Feb 2012
83
58th
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.
Rated 18 Jul 2010
40
71st
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.
Rated 11 Jan 2011
71
54th
Interesting look into her life. Has some interesting life perspectives from someone who's career is so long yet not over.
Rated 13 Feb 2013
4
55th
I have an odd relation to Joan Rivers. I can't stand the majority of her stand-up, but she's delightful in her off-stage moments, and always seems naturally witty and self-effacing. This documentary goes a way into explaining this, but not far enough.
Rated 27 Jul 2011
40
54th
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.
Rated 05 Nov 2012
74
42nd
This is an interesting look at Joan Rivers. The story mostly follows her recent work over approximately a one year time period. It would have been nice to see more time spent on her early years.
Rated 08 Nov 2010
30
78th
"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
Rated 26 Feb 2011
75
48th
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.
Rated 24 Dec 2010
70
56th
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.
Rated 22 Feb 2011
69
43rd
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.
Rated 11 Sep 2014
72
43rd
Probably as insightful as a doco on her can get, she lets it all out in this one, and I don't blame her at the age she was at. I can't help but feel her priorities are out of whack, as she prefers vicarious criticism to more intimate feedback, but that goes to show how revealing this non-biased doco is.
Rated 01 Dec 2010
1
0th
Nothing -- not even daughter Melissa's assessment of all comedians as "damaged" -- validates this worshipful portrait of craven showbiz.
Rated 04 Jan 2011
6
53rd
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.
Rated 31 Oct 2010
80
88th
Fascinating, entertaining and honest look at Joan Rivers' workaholic life.
Rated 11 Feb 2011
85
75th
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.
Rated 05 Jun 2011
74
33rd
A very entertaining documentary on a comedic legend.
Rated 06 Feb 2012
75
81st
She's a little sad, but it's hard to stay focused on that when she's so fantastic and funny. The parts with her stand-up comedy were hilarious. A good, revealing documentary.
Rated 15 Sep 2021
50
34th
I think Joan Rivers was an inspiring person but this documentary just made me sad.

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