Ben S
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.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/08/23
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Kirsten W
Brad Garrett is very charismatic and believable as Jackie. It's fun to watch him.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
07/11/23
Full Review
nate m
It starts off slowly, but about a half hour in, you get a feel for what Gleason was all about. He was smart, clever, funny, talented, and an a-hole. He always said what he was thinking and this offended a lot of people, including executives. Like many successful people, his family was left behind as he doggedly pursued his goal - to show his father he could be important. The acting is spot on. I remember watching his show as a young boy and when they show the black and white Honeymooners sketch, it really looks like I remembered. It's kind of a shame the entire documentary was not filmed in black and white, but I doubt many people today will watch that. Somehow, Jackie Gleason doesn't come off as real in color. I enjoyed the movie, as almost anyone old enough to remember him will agree. Jackie was also a great musical talent, although he couldn't play music. He recorded several albums of big orchestra music that, surprisingly, sold very well. That is completely left out of this 'documentary'. I really wish they showed where he got on a train and moved his entire show, including the cast, to Miami Beach. It was his 'second act'. There's so much left out! But Jackie was bigger than life in so many ways. A real documentary would take several hours. I imagine the big problem for the writers was what to leave out. I recommend the movie. But fast forward through a few slow patches.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
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.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I know he made it big and is well remembered but I thought this was rather dull and long winded.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
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.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
Full Review
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