Gleason

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Kim P @RT98672688 Oct 24, 2025 I was pleasantly surprised by Brad Garret's portrayal of Gleason. He was able to do the graceful physical humor that Gleason pulled off and had the comic timing and vocal inflections down pat. The movie itself was a little heavy-handed but really not bad at all. See more Ben S @TheBenMan Sep 8, 2023 Fun movie, Gleason a broken selfish man (based on this film) well played by Brad Garret , this is a nice look back into those days and this film somehow over 20 years old. See more Kirsten W @kirght Jul 11, 2023 Brad Garrett is very charismatic and believable as Jackie. It's fun to watch him. See more Jun 14, 2014 Good acting by Garrett. I really didn't think he could play jacky Gleason , but he does a good job. I didn't really like the way Gleason is portrayed as a dick head. But hey, he was known to be an asshole at times. See more Sep 24, 2013 I know he made it big and is well remembered but I thought this was rather dull and long winded. See more Aug 16, 2010 Twenty minutes in, the viewer will barely realize he/she is watching Brad Garrett and not "The Great One" himself. Voice, gestures, facial expressions - it's all just amazingly spot-on. Sadly this unique, talented delivery is wasted on a hack script that bypasses the majority of Gleason's accomplishments, backstory and distinctive persona. A biopic of Gleason ought be interesting - and it is, at least, whenever Garrett is channeling Gleason. Garrett, seemingly effortlessly, grips Gleason's stage persona directly by the horns, tapping deep into factual shtick and comic material to revive classic Gleason characterizations from Ralph Kramden to Reginald Van Gleason III. And Garrett does just as well recreating Gleason the man - his swagger, witty quips and confidence. The film bookends with snippits of Garrett/Gleason being interviewed as he looks back over his career - snippits actually culled from a famous "60 Minutes" interview. Unfortunately, the scriptwriters had no sense of purpose, direction - or sense of Gleason - once forced to veer past Gleason's most iconic media content. They needlessly and excessively dwell on relative minutia such as the desertion of Gleason's father, marital squabbles, Jackie's fondness for taking a snort, and other such pulp. Such dwelling misses the mark wide. Example: Nothing said of Gleason's actual composing of the trumpet-dominated theme songs for both "The Jackie Gleason Show" ("Melancholy Serenade") and "The Honeymoons" ("You're My Greatest Love"). Gleason penned forty albums of similar 1950ish lush mood-music instrumentals, selling 120 million copies, even though he could not read/write music. Rather, he dictated it all to a composer, one note at a time. Another example: Nothing said of Gleason's stellar delivery as Minnesota Fats in "The Hustler" (1961). RECOMMENDATION: Despite the poor writing, for the excellent portrayal by Garrett, well spent viewing. See more Read all reviews

Gleason

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