Comedian

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

lluminating and exceptional docu-portrait.

Chicago Tribune Allan Johnson

A film that comes close to re-creating the funny-but-serious environment of stand-up comedy.

Chicago Reader J. R. Jones

Superlative documentary by Christian Charles delves into the world of stand-up with a seriousness and attention to detail matched only by Phil Berger's book "The Last Laugh."

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's funny as hell, and like all comedy that stings, sorrowful at its core.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

What begins as an indulgent vanity piece (Seinfeld was a producer of the film) ends up as a fascinating portrait of creativity at its most compulsive.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Instead of prying into his soul, the filmmakers investigate his working conditions and offer a sort of backstage ethnographic study of the professional stand-up culture.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Seinfeld is the perfect figure to center a documentary called, generically, Comedian.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Entertaining.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Shows Jerry Seinfeld as you've never seen him before: being unfunny.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The thrust of the movie is that even for Jerry, the quintessential scientist of stand-up, comedy is very, very hard to do. By the end, you're closer to knowing why.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Although respectful of its central subject, Comedian is not worshipful. Rather, it is curious about what in Seinfeld's hard-wiring allows him to maintain his equilibrium.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Its power and bite come from the contrast Seinfeld makes with Orny Adams, a younger comedian on the verge of success who is everything Seinfeld is not: hungry, vain, petty, mean-spirited, desperate for recognition.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

There's plenty of humour in Comedian but not a lot of happiness -- apparently, the sad clown is a cliché for good reason.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Fascinating and often very funny behind-the-scenes look at the tedium and hard work that go into making strangers laugh.

Variety Robert Koehler

Gains much greater texture from the intercutting between the two performers than had it remained simply a Seinfeld promotional project.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's an agreeable, sometimes hilarious picture that looks at the world of comedy from many vantage points, chiefly the apex.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I don't mean to be negative, but I want Orny Adams hung naked over a pit of snapping crocodiles. That said, Comedian is a lightweight but appealing backstage film about two performers.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

As a portrait of a man at the top of his profession starting over, it's involving throughout, and funny, too. Its range proves too narrow to support the questions it raises, but it's memorable for the point it repeats.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Seinfeld's cool professionalism is almost cruelly juxtaposed with the tortured narcissism of heel-nipping tyro Orny Adams, who illustrates the mirror-image view from below. Comedy is pain, whether you're top- or underdog.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A not particularly revealing documentary.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie was produced by Seinfeld, and protects him. The visuals tend toward the dim, the gray and the washed-out, and you wish instead of spending a year with their store-boughts, they'd spent a month and used the leftover to hire a cinematographer.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This film got made because Seinfeld is famous, but it's still hard not to wish the filmmakers had devoted a couple of years to following Adams instead. The guy's such a throbbing bundle of arrogance, raw nerves and self-destructive insecurity that you can see the flame-out coming.

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

What makes Comedian more than just another documentary about the comedy club comeback of a sitcom prince is that it contrasts his struggle with that of just another stand-up climber, Orny Adams.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Despite amazing access to Seinfeld backstage, we don't get a peek into the real man.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

What we're left with is half a movie about a cocky up-and-comer, and half a movie that could be one of those MTV Diary of... specials on Jerry Seinfeld.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

More like watching a Polaroid picture develop without ever getting to see the finished picture.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

At its best, it's a lively on-the-road chronicle of how to put an act together from scratch.

LA Weekly Mark Olsen

Has moments of real interest, but they require wading through a lot of dead air.