Popular reviews

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  Review by Scott Tobias ★★★ 1

  Not sure I really needed to hear from several of the talking heads here, but if Rob Reiner wants to make the argument that Albert Brooks is the most brilliant comic mind of his generation and he's assembled all these famous people to suggest as much, I'm on board.

  One fantastic quote among many from Brooks: “I had a very famous agent and he said to me, ‘I don’t know why you always take the hard road.’ And my answer was, ‘You think I see two roads.’”

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  Review by Matt Singer ★★★

  Finally, a film that dares to put forward the bold thesis that Albert Brooks is funny.

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  Review by Ella Kemp ★★★★

  “If there was an easy road, I’d have a house on it.”

  If My Dinner with Andre was about the funniest guy you’d ever met and it was set in the restaurant of dreams. Literally nothing the man hasn’t done, his name is the only thing my dad would also probably let me get a tattoo of. He’d probably make us watch this next Yom Kippur too. It would definitely count.

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  Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★½ 4

  an entertaining, albeit slight, documentary about one of the best people to ever do it that fails to answer the most pressing question: when are we getting a Real Life blu-ray?

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  Review by Alex Small ★★★½

  I love Albert Brooks but knew very little about his early TV appearences. It's crazy that he helped shape SNL by suggesting that they have a rotating host; this is not how variety shows were done. He also created the first filmed segments in the history of the show.

  Rob Reiner is a friend, so you could side eye him directing this. But I think his proximity to Brooks actually adds a level to it. Plus, he's not one of those guys you're looking for a dark side with. Reiner managed to make a film I enjoyed, and it's been a while since he managed that.

  If you want to dive into some lit and crit on war movies, check out a show that I produce called Reel War Project.

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  Review by JBird ★★★½

  Albert Brooks would go on a show,
  Beforehand not really know.
  Make it up on the spot,
  Folks laughed a lot,
  Defending his Life as he'll go.

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  Review by Andy Young 1

  An hour and a half of Albert Brooks clips and people saying nice things about Albert Brooks is an hour and a half pretty well spent!

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  Review by Ian Curran ★★★★

  Two old friends walk into a loving montage…

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  Review by seanoconnz

  Next to Norm MacDonald there is not another comedian who is more important in my life. Albert Brooks is a God.

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  Review by pirateneckbeard ★★★★

  I didn't even know this existed and just happened upon it when I got home from work and plonked myself down on the couch and it was on HBO to my excited surprise.
  I know he has always been a reclusive individual when it comes to his actual life so this was a candid peak behind the curtain guided by his friend and legendary director Rob Reiner who perfectly gives us a casual dinning conversation with Albert adding his life story milestones and memories all the while Rob gives us clips of important funny moments of his past and loosely structures it around most of his films. I really enjoyed the diverse famous heads that they get to add favourite moments of his past.
  All in all a informative totally enjoyable documentary on a very interesting brilliant comedian that I have admired for a long time. So glad that this exists.

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  Review by brendanowicz 4

  I typically dislike this kind of talking head-centric, hagiographic doc, but even by those standards this is impressively awful, a new innovation in late style. Rob Reiner has made some classic movies but I don't think anyone will deny he lost whatever touch or streak of luck he had a while ago. In the last ten years or so he's mostly a guy who pops up on Twitter to post about Trump. And this is a pretty Twitter-brained movie, in terms of the rhetorical style: a lot of quick, choppily edited clips of Brooks being funny, interrupted by celebrities chiming in with effusive banalities, which are then reinforced by the offscreen Reiner on mic murmuring "Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah." All…

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  Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★★ 2

  Really glad to see Albert Brooks talking about his life and comedians "defending" him. Definitely one of my favorite comedians. Great writer, director, and actor as well.

  Was fun to see his short films when I binged on SNL episodes (season one). Glad to hear how that originated.

  Vegan alert:
  -Eggs on face
  -Roast beef on menu
  -Reference to chicken stew and other non-vegan items