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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Comedian

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Directed by: Christian Charles
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 11, 2002
DVD: May 13, 2003
Running Time: 81 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Full of It
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
Chicago Tribune Allan Johnson
A film that comes close to re-creating the funny-but-serious environment of stand-up comedy.
Read Full Review >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 >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's funny as hell, and like all comedy that stings, sorrowful at its core.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Seinfeld is the perfect figure to center a documentary called, generically, Comedian.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Shows Jerry Seinfeld as you've never seen him before: being unfunny.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Despite amazing access to Seinfeld backstage, we don't get a peek into the real man.
Read Full Review >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 >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
More like watching a Polaroid picture develop without ever getting to see the finished picture.
Read Full Review >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 >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
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...."
