BITTER JESTER A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Maija Di Giorgio was a stand-up comic who thought she had the world at her feet. Having grown up in a show business family in which their walls contained nothing but head shots, she was a confident woman who thought her initial success in dazzling audiences meant that she was destined for stardom.
One day early in her career she caused a crash in her personal stock market by her actions in front of a room full of entertainment industry executives. When they wouldn't laugh on queue, she lost it big time. After telling them repeatedly to go f*** themselves, she walked offstage way before her time was up. This tantrum shut her career down like a CEO caught in a single but high profile transgression. This is actually quite surprising because, when I met her at the screening, she was one of the most personable and down-to-earth people I've ever met.
Bitter and unable to get employment in her chosen profession, she went into therapy. Her therapist suggested she take up some diversion like painting. Instead, Di Giorgio chose video. She decided to make a movie about stand-up comics, including what had happened to her. The resulting documentary, BITTER JESTER, is much funnier and insightful than a similar documentary, COMEDIAN, which got a theatrical release last year.
Typical of the many incidents that BITTER JESTER chronicles is the time that her producer, Kenneth "Kenny" R. Sim, a comic and ex-bouncer, got it on with Jerry Seinfeld's people at a comedy club in New York. The next day the headlines of the New York Post read "Muscleman vs. Funnyman." Perhaps all publicity helps, but this confrontation got Di Giorgio's documentary crew banned from the club.
If you like to laugh or you're interested in how others make people laugh, BITTER JESTER is the film for you.
BITTER JESTER runs 1:31. It is not rated but would be an R for language and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film was shown recently as part of San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival (www.Cinequest.org), which ran February 27 to March 9, 2003.
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