Pee Wee As Himself

One of my favorite Orson Welles films is F For Fake. It is, ostensibly, a documentary about authenticity in art. The film looks at this a number of ways, from examining noted painting forger Elmyr de Hory and the attempt to document his life by fellow noted forgery practitioner Clifford Irving. The movie is a masterpiece of mind-fuckery, as Welles, a former stage magician and someone who loved to deceive audiences in clever ways, used editing and outright lies in F For Fake to indict the idea of documentaries themselves and ask the question: can there ever be authenticity in art? I thought about F For Fake often as I watched Pee-Wee As Himself, 3+ hour documentary narrated by Paul Reubens about his life and career. I didn't think about F For Fake because I am skeptical of the documentary medium (although there have been enough examples of bad actors in the field that one could call into question any documentaries), but because Reubens himself throws a whole bucket of cold water-flavored doubt on the proceedings in numerous spots. He puts on great airs playing coy at one point, literally saying the director doesn't know if he (Reubens) is telling the truth or not, and at another, a conversation is included wherein Reubens outright admits he doesn't trust director Matt Wolf. Pee-Wee also questions how true the documentary can be, given that he voluntarily participating and narrating, but not involved in the production. But then again, the reason we know Reubens at all is because of a persona he put on for a decade, and a persona is more or less a lie manifested as a person. I don't think there was a conscious attempt to make a subversive, untrustworthy documentary, but with a performer/subject as notoriously guarded and practiced at performance art as Paul Reubens, and a medium as notorious for dramatic enrichment as documentaries, I don't think it's beyond reproach to wonder if 100% of what is seen here is the objective truth. And I'm okay with that. I think, were he still alive, Reubens would be okay with that. He spent his time on Earth living two lives, as the documentary demonstrates by his own admission. On the one hand, he was Paul, a man that suppressed both his sexuality and his emotions in favor of being singularly focused on his career, to the point of sacrificing romantic entanglements and friendships, and an obsessive focus on building the Pee-Wee brand, to the point of isolation and possible frustration with the confines of the character. On the other hand, he was Pee-Wee, a subversive icon of humor and childlike joy through which themes of acceptance, emotional freedom, tolerance, inclusivity, and expression were explored and shared with adults and children alike, but which required an around-the-clock portrayal to the detriment of the other half's very life. As Pee-Wee As Himself explores, Pee-Wee Herman was as much a performance art piece as it was a character. It gave Paul Reubens an opportunity to explore and express a side of himself that he couldn't find as a regular actor, but it also came with demands and restrictions he didn't imagine. From childhood through the end of Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Reubens leaves no stone unturned, good or bad. His first real relationship, which ended when he felt it was holding him back from his career; foregoing serious acting when it doesn't happen and focusing on comedy and zany characters; the explosive success of Pee-Wee from a stage show to a TV show to a movie; the break-up of a friendship and partnership between Reubens and Phil Hartman, who helped create the stage show that would become the groundwork for the TV show and co-wrote the Pee-Wee's Big Adventure; the non-stop grind of the TV show. Reubens doesn't shy away from any of it. Until he does. After his arrest in 1991 on indecent exposure charges, the documentary -- 95% narrated by Reubens up to this point -- changes. The speed with which it goes through his life, to say the least, picks up; the first two, two and a half hours, covers birth to the end of the Playhouse. The last hour covers everything since. New voices start to take over; his sister, his personal assistant, cast members from the show, and friends like David Arquette and Debi Mazar. It isn't until near the very end that the documentary reveals why; Reubens' control issues and once-rigid control over his persona was being challenged by an outside observer (Wolf), and the mistrust hinted at and treated as a joke in many places suddenly becomes all too teal. Reubens stopped cooperating and never sat down for his final interview, which was to cover the 1991 and 2001 arrests, and his life after that. His only contribution in regard to those is a weary piece of audio Reubens recorded himself, literally the day before he died, that speaks in guarded generalities. The shift in tone and presentation wasn't a directorial choice, it was a necessary one due to Reubens wanting, and not having, firm control over the narrative. All of this makes Pee-Wee As Himself a fascinating but somewhat unsettling watch in retrospect. There is clearly a love by Wolf of Reubens and Pee-Wee, and he wants to do justice to the subject, to present a warts-and-all picture of this man. And Reubens himself can be seen getting a kick out of the attention, and the opportunity to be himself and tell his story ... but his narcissism (he was one, unquestionably) and reluctance to let anyone tell his story -- especially after he stopped cooperating as it got to the more difficult times -- has to make any viewer skeptical, of both Reubens' veracity throughout the project, and Wolf finishing the documentary. Are there instances contained within the documentary of Reubens sabotaging it while participating in it? Was Wolf right in supplementing the last 45 minutes or so with other voices telling Reubens' story even though Reubens no longer seemed interested in doing so, in direct contradiction of the documentary's very title, just to get it over the finish line? I don't know. Two contradictory truths can exist at the same time, and Pee-Wee As Himself, by design or circumstance, is stuck reckoning with it. Is this a good watch? Absolutely. I loved Pee-Wee as a kid. Playhouse debuted when I was 9. It was surreal, anarchic, and experimental, but never impenetrable or aloof. It opened my eyes to a whole new point of view on humor and expression. I enjoyed Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. And in the 90's, I'd become a fan of Paul Reubens whenever I saw him, like his role in the Buffy movie. So this was a natural draw for me, and I'm glad I watched it. I don't know that I could ever settle the ethical debates at the heart of this documentary, and I don't know if even a higher power could sort out fact and fiction. Pee-Wee As Himself is probably best viewed as the last bit of performance art by Paul Reubens, one that, like Pee-Wee, he ended up discovering the commitment required to see it through might be more than he could've imagined.