Comedian (2002)
Directed by Christian Charles
Featuring Jerry Seinfeld, Orny Adams and Colin Quinn
82 mins / Miramax / Rated R
Retail: $29.99 / Street: $25
by Alex Mestas 8/21/2003
More info: Miramax
DVD Cover
The Cover
Comedian is a plain and simple documentary following Jerry Seinfeld's return back to the comedy circuit, scratching his old material and starting anew. Along with the struggles of the veteran Jerry, the film also follows a loudmouthed and arrogrant upcoming comic, Orny Adams. The cameras follow the two funnymen for the entirety of the films, and given the small nature of the digital camera, we get to see Jerry everywhere - both hitting and bombing big.

Here's what matters - Orny Adams is a fucking asshole and I'm glad we haven't heard much from him of late. Yes, I'm generally a cynical ass myself, but after hearing Orny Adams talk about himself, you might be too. Never before have I heard a comedian with so little talent talking so wonderfully about himself. Nobody else in the film seems to be very fond of him either. so why the filmmakers decided to cover Orny's attempt at the comedy scene, I don't know. He's such an ass. I wish they would have followed Colin Quinn instead - he's one of the few comedians to consistently make everyone around him laugh.

Comedian isn't a particularly great movie. It's too simple a flick for the audience to become emotionally invested in, but it's interesting enough to compel you to feel nervous for Jerry when he's about to go on stage. Despite it's rather cursory look at the comedy scene, It's an interesting enough film. You may learn to have a greater appreciation of joke writing and you might even feel bad about heckling. Except for Orny Adams, heckle him all you want.

Movie Grade: B

Video: 3 out of 5
It's shot on digital video, so that's what it looks like and that's what you get.
Full Screen 1.33:1

Jerry explain how to be humble to Orny.

Audio: 3 out of 5
It's not really necessary to have a 5.1 presentation for this movie. The 2.0 will suit you just fine.
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)

Extras: 4 out of 5
There's some surprisingly good stuff on this disc. There's some great little things that really make it worth checking out. There's two very funny interviews with Jiminy Glick (Martin Short) that's worth some belly (yes, literally) laughs. There's also some deleted scenes with the director and producer and they're deleted for a reason. There's two commentaries, one with the director and producer, which is pretty sedate and technical. Really, the best extra is Seinfeld and Quinn's commentary. It's not exactly wall to wall, but it's very funny. I especially like it when they rail into Orny.

Overall: 3 out of 5
Rental. Watch the movie and then listen to Seinfeld and Quinn's commentary.

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