CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

DVD and Video

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Recent Releases in DVD and Video

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



 

Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Comedian
Miramax Films

Comedian reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 62 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.7 out of 10
based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language

Starring Jerry Seinfeld, Colin Quinn, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling, Bill Cosby, Jay Leno, and Kevin Nealon

Jerry Seinfeld is once again a working standup comic. Comedian is the unique and engaging look at what it took for him, and by extension every stand-up, to get there. (Miramax)


GENRE(S): Documentary  
DIRECTED BY: Christian Charles  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 13, 2003 
Video: May 13, 2003 
Theatrical: October 11, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 81 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
lluminating and exceptional docu-portrait.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Tribune Allan Johnson
A film that comes close to re-creating the funny-but-serious environment of stand-up comedy.
Read Full Review
80
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."
Read Full Review
80
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's funny as hell, and like all comedy that stings, sorrowful at its core.
Read Full Review
80
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.
Read Full Review
80
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.
Read Full Review
75
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Seinfeld is the perfect figure to center a documentary called, generically, Comedian.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
Entertaining.
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Shows Jerry Seinfeld as you've never seen him before: being unfunny.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Robert Koehler
Gains much greater texture from the intercutting between the two performers than had it remained simply a Seinfeld promotional project.
Read Full Review
67
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.
Read Full Review
63
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.
Read Full Review
60
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.
Read Full Review
60
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.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
A not particularly revealing documentary.
Read Full Review
50
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.
Read Full Review
50
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.
Read Full Review
50
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.
Read Full Review
50
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Despite amazing access to Seinfeld backstage, we don't get a peek into the real man.
Read Full Review
50
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.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
More like watching a Polaroid picture develop without ever getting to see the finished picture.
Read Full Review
50
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.
Read Full Review
40
LA Weekly Mark Olsen
Has moments of real interest, but they require wading through a lot of dead air.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Edmund F. gave it an 8:
I give this movie an 8, mainly because of it's ability to make plain what is beneath the surface for Jerry. (and Orny) I feel sorry for him; adoring fans, money out the wazoo, and yet he still desires to re-create the suffering that is the comedian's cross to bear (or not, as in the case of Bill Cosby-who appears in the film as the Comedians' Prophet). As one who has done many a amatuer night, I know now, do it for the fun and pleasure...and nothing else...

Angela gave it a 9:
Orny Adams was the funniest part of this movie! He gets the break of his life and is still miserable. Now that's a comedian!

Ryan M. gave it a 0:
Movies do not get more pathetic, absolutely hideous.

James F. gave it a 7:
Orny Adams is a loathsome human being. Colin Quinn--who I've always considered a hack--is somewhat interesting. He comes off as a teacher in the sense of "those who can't...."

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: World News | Fantasy Football | Amy Winehouse | Baseball | E3 | Batman | Firefox 3 | iPhone 3G

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use