79
Metascore
34 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanShe's a teller of hilarious gutbucket truths as surely as Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor ever were. Yet while they were consumed by their demons, Rivers is just the opposite.
- 91The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinA Piece of Work is the antithesis of Jerry Seinfeld's engaging but superficial 2002 documentary "Comedian": where the innately private Seinfeld holds nearly everything back, Rivers loudly broadcasts the kind of fears, anxieties, and ambitions most people would do anything to hide.
- 85NPRBob MondelloNPRBob MondelloAs the film demonstrates over the course of a full year with her, and not a great year by any stretch -- there is more to this particular hard-charging, egomaniacal, joke machine than gets revealed onstage.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeA highly entertaining documentary revealing a serious talent behind the one-note present-day reputation.
- 80VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyMixing hilarious standup footage with admiring if not exactly cuddlesome behind-the-scenes glimpses.
- 80Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichIt's easy to think of comics, especially time-tested ones like Rivers, as mechanical laugh-generators. Stern and Sundberg allow her to reveal the deep-rooted humanity of those ever-present quips, and the effect is humbling.
- 80MovielineStephanie ZacharekMovielineStephanie ZacharekRivers appears to have more energy than most 30-year-olds; she gets more done in a day that some of us could accomplish in a week.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinBy turns desperately funny and unfunnily desperate?
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanFor all the frenzied activity, Joan Rivers is less informative dish than infomercializing cliché.