Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

A rare, brutally honest glimpse into the comedic process and private dreams legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers as she fights tooth and nail to keep her American dream alive.

“Painfully funny.” (Wesley Morris, Boston Globe)

“Joan Rivers — where have you been all my life? That, at least, is what I thought after watching (twice) the documentary “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.” Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, this convulsively funny movie takes an up-close and sometimes queasy-personal approach to its motormouth subject, who, when she’s not making you howl with laughter (or freeze up in horror), brandishes her deeply held hurts, fears, prejudices, poor judgment and bad taste as if they were stigmata...when she stands on the stage, it’s as if she had tapped right into her id. It’s a gusher.” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times)