The fact that Gene Wilder narrated this documentary about himself... after his death... taken from his autobiography's audiobook... is both really good and sometimes, not so perfect...
However the first outvotes the latter since Gene's journey from the stage to screen... from Willy Wonka to his movies with Mel Brooks to his partnership with Richard Pryor and then his marriage to Gilda Radner... is as optimistic and kindhearted as the characters he portrayed, and how he obviously was in real life: A life of making people (first his sickly mother) laugh...
The downside is that the timeless hits like Blazing Saddles and Stir Crazy and Young Frankenstein and flawed misses like Hanky Panky and The World's Greatest Lover and outright turkeys like Haunted Honeymoon and Another You are either treated equally with the classics, or not mentioned at all...
So we never really get to experience whatever roadblocks he had along the way (Gilda's death aside), which can often be more interesting than the nice stuff (and it makes any comeback actually matter)... especially in a documentary about an actor with such a long and varied career full of so many ups and downs...
But for a bright sunny glimpse into a man of pure cinematic genius, Remembering Gene Wilder is a neat way to spend 90-minutes.
However the first outvotes the latter since Gene's journey from the stage to screen... from Willy Wonka to his movies with Mel Brooks to his partnership with Richard Pryor and then his marriage to Gilda Radner... is as optimistic and kindhearted as the characters he portrayed, and how he obviously was in real life: A life of making people (first his sickly mother) laugh...
The downside is that the timeless hits like Blazing Saddles and Stir Crazy and Young Frankenstein and flawed misses like Hanky Panky and The World's Greatest Lover and outright turkeys like Haunted Honeymoon and Another You are either treated equally with the classics, or not mentioned at all...
So we never really get to experience whatever roadblocks he had along the way (Gilda's death aside), which can often be more interesting than the nice stuff (and it makes any comeback actually matter)... especially in a documentary about an actor with such a long and varied career full of so many ups and downs...
But for a bright sunny glimpse into a man of pure cinematic genius, Remembering Gene Wilder is a neat way to spend 90-minutes.