73
Metascore
5 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperChicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDying Laughing is a movie about stand-up with no performance footage. It’s like a documentary about baseball with no game footage — but it’s great and it’s valuable and it’s wonderful, because we love seeing and hearing these all-time greats talk about what they do with such passion and candor.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAn involving examination of and tribute to the art and agony of stand-up comedy, "Dying Laughing" will leave you convinced that a) comedians spend a lot of time thinking about their work and b) it's too difficult and even painful a vocation to take on unless you absolutely feel it as a calling.
- 75RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyRogerEbert.comGlenn KennyOnce the movie hits its true stride it’s really fascinating. At least it is if you have an interest in its subject, which I think maybe you should, since the compulsion to stand on a stage and seek approval by telling jokes is one of the most potentially masochistic in the entire human condition
- 70The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThough the engaging documentary treads through unavoidably familiar territory — the loneliness of the road, the anguish of bombing — its chorus of testifiers often find sharp new angles of approach.
- 60The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAs one comic after another recalls triumphs, misadventures and painful lessons learned, the stories become redundant.