Product Details

• Actors: Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Patrick Alparone, George Carlin
• Directors: Anne Sundberg, Ricki Stern
• Writers: Ricki Stern
• Producers: Charles Miller, Anne Sundberg, Ricki Stern, Seth Keal
• Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Ifc Independent Film
• DVD Release Date: December 14, 2010
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00433KF1E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,381 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Those who recognize Joan Rivers from her television appearances may feel like they know her, but as Anne Sundberg and Ricki Stern prove, there's more to the smart-talking dame than meets the eye. She appears to have given the duo complete access as they recall events from her past--including the feud with Johnny Carson--while following her around as she rehearses for a play, participates in a celebrity roast, and plies her profane brand of comedy before appreciative crowds, but she reveals herself most fully in the moments spent with staffers: the 75-year-old fears an empty datebook more than aging. While some entertainers lean on their partners for support, Rivers looks to her fans; it's not that family doesn't matter, but that they don't shape her self-image as intensely. She talks freely about her cosmetic procedures, her husband Edgar's suicide, and her daughter Melissa (Sundberg and Stern track their participation in Celebrity Apprentice). The filmmakers also speak with Kathy Griffin, but Joan provides most of the dialogue, and even detractors may find their resistance melting as they meet the insecure woman behind the self-constructed mask. While a lesser performer might succumb to self-pity, this one pours the bitterness over her losses into her work. The documentary also comes as a surprise from directors behind films about the conflict in Darfur (The Devil Came on Horseback) and racial injustice (The Three Trials of Darryl Hunt), though their subject's tireless commitment to AIDS relief provides one possible explanation for their empathy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

One of the most critically and commercially successful word of mouth documentary hits in years, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work played and played for months in major cities around the country as audiences discovered the film and urged their friends to go see it. Directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg (The End Of America) follow a year in the life of the trailblazing comic, covering her entire career (from that early break on Carson to heartbreak over the suicide of her husband and manager to Celebrity Apprentice) and her relentless desire to keep working (and working) with humor, empathy and of course more humor. Wickedly funny and surprisingly moving, it returns Rivers to the spotlight she so richly deserves and cements her reputation as one of stand-up's towering figures.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cathartic Comedy and Documentary - July 1, 2010

By Loyd E. Eskildson HALL OF FAME

"Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" is thoroughly enjoying. She has always been outrageous and I knew what to expect. I got what I wanted - a time to laugh and cry and sometimes do both at the same time. Joan is not only a genius, but amazing in her drive and fantastic comedic timing. She thinks on her feet and not only has the guts to say what people keep deep into their psyches, she brazenly lets us look and laugh and not be afraid to peek at life's unfairness. Joan is a fascinating woman, who knows what she wants -she works constantly at 77, keeps herself on the go - I was tired watching her hectic schedule. Joan does not feel alive unless she is working - and she will work anywhere at anytime. Although she complained of not saving money for her old age, she makes plenty and spends it freely on herself and others. Her generosity to staff and thoughtful Thanksgiving dinner belie her unrelenting drive to support a lush lifestyle. She is a workaholic and has kept her brain from "rusting" out, but may "wear out" by constant travel, gigs, writing material, and never stopping trying new venues. Her plastic surgeries and botox injections are discussed as a matter of course and are part of the show business routine she accepts. At the beginning we see her without makeup, and as she is painted up and prepped it is amazing a 77 year old can look that good. She is not afraid to bare her feelings (she give background on leaving Johnny Carson show and her husband's suicide), her foibles (Am I a Diva? All comediennes are angry?) and keeps hacking away at "sacred cows" so we may laugh with her on life in blasphemous joy - it is nothing but cathartic.

Joan is exquisitely complex, smart (reads voraciously), honest, generous, kind and anything but ordinary.... What a joy it is to see her full throttle on the big screen. Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An unsparing look at a performer's life July 9, 2010

By klavierspiel VINE™ VOICE

At times during "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" the viewer wonders whether a few of Joan Rivers' deadliest enemies somehow managed to sneak into her shows and her private life, for the express purpose of putting together a montage of her most unflattering moments. But no, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, the makers of this relentlessly personal film about a comedian who has had more than her share of ups and downs, were given the apparently limitless access they had by Rivers herself.

The bulk of the film takes place during the last two years, during which Rivers works on an autobiographical play about her life starring herself, which flops in London; appears as a contestant on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" with more success: she wins; and does a string of live appearances, most in out-of-the-way and sometimes schlocky venues. Interspersed with the present reality are flashbacks to the past, most notably her triumph as the permanent guest host of Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," followed by her greatest career mistake, an ill-fated move to launch her own talk show in direct competition with her former mentor's. Her daughter Melissa (as unflatteringly photographed as the star, incidentally), and longtime manager (whom Rivers fires during the course of the film), as well as some of her comic colleagues, weigh in with their own observations: one that particularly sticks in the mind is Melissa Rivers' comment that all great comics are "damaged people."

Damaged Rivers may be, but ultimately she disarms through her absolute refusal to make excuses or to rest on her laurels. In her late seventies she is still frenziedly searching for the next gig, the next comeback; one imagines her dying onstage, doing what she cannot stop doing.... For what it's worth, this particular viewer, who has always found her hilarious, was also touched by this unvarnished film portrait. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Piece of Work...That Needed More Work March 2, 2011

By Noir Man

Format:DVD

As much as I was fascinated with getting to know Joan Rivers through this documentary, apparently, based on another review, there were other facets to know of Joan's life, i.e. being a "voracious reader". I didn't know that. This film showed her as go, go, go....the workaholic. Sure, there were some non-business related moments, but show biz was always beckoning. If there were other sides to her, then why weren't they shown? Was it the performer the filmmakers were documenting or the complete person of Joan Rivers? I think the former.

Of her peers, Don Rickles' was the only interview snippet. What would have fleshed out her life more colorfully would have been to get a cross-section of fellow performers, whether actors or comedians...her staff and agent chimed in, which was a good start, then it fell flat.

The history of her time on the Tonight Show, background of her husband, growth in relationship with her daughter, her charity work and the "interruption" during one of her shows and her subsequent reflection on that experience, were the highlights. I still wanted to know more about the major highs and lows of Joan's life....it just seemed like too quick of a glossover. Her daughter inferring the insecurity of her mother was an obvious entry to deeper investigation. Alas, it never surfaced, which is partly why the film didn't seem like a documentary, but a "promo". The viewer was left to connect some vague, wide-spaced dots that could have been intimately elaborated along the way.

( In light of the movie, I DON'T give this documentary 3 stars [inside joke for those who've seen the film], rather 3 1/2...I would if I could register it as that )