Steve Martin is one of the most beloved and enigmatic figures in entertainment. Dive into his extraordinary story from two distinct points of view—past and present—as Martin reflects on how his beginnings led to his unexpectedly fulfilling life today.
STEVE! (martin): um documentário em 2 partes, 史蒂夫马丁：喜剧人生 2 部曲
A very good documentary about a man who’ve been in his 70s for nearly 50 years.
First half: I was rolling my eyes whenever anyone tried to put Martin in his sociopolitical context. "He was a bridge from the '60s - he gave us permission to be silly again..." okay, sure. Lots of funny clips of his stand-up. It's not said this way in the doc, but it occurs to me that his great innovation was doing showbiz deconstruction in a way that was more palatable and ingratiating than how, for example, Andy Kaufman worked. For Kaufman, the audience was a sparring partner; for Martin, it was a co-conspirator.
Second half: Hanging out with Steve in a variety of expensive Los Angeles mansions and Upper East Side apartments, his transformation from lonely, self-loathing workaholic to semi-retired…
My Comedy Mount Rushmore has always been Norm Macdonald, Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, and a rotating spot usually filled by a comedian who gets canceled.
I was elated by this documentary that somehow feels like the first comedy doc to capture the first ten agonizing, exhilarating, and depressing years of a stand-up career. A lot of times these documentaries bypass the work and make it seem like a comic was dropped fully formed onto The Tonight Show’s stage. This doesn't do that and because of that, this is wonderful.
I'll always be thankful for my one encounter with Steve Martin when he dropped by a show I was doing with Norm and I got to tell him that I made…
There’s been a lot of docs on my heroes I’ve grown up with but this may be the best, a dense but breezy trip through the life and career of one of the most talented comedic minds of the last 50+ years.
While the first part is a collage of an insane collection of photos and footage from Steve’s standup career transforming into a film career that was very well put together and insightfully entertaining, I REALLY liked watching the second part, watching steve make a poached egg while riffing with his best friend who happens to be Martin Short while passing through his movie career that could have been an hour longer (no MY BLUE HEAVEN?! Blasphemy!).
And the…
2 pieces that are all about Steve,
And all things he he would achieve.
His shows would sell out,
But when he had doubt,
He knew the right time to leave.
Literally impossible to watch this and not immediately feel a craving to go through Steve Martin’s entire filmography.
There have been quite a few of these types of docs done recently and this one, STILL and SR. are probably my favorites. That said, this one might be the best.
Surprisingly candid about his early years.
A look at loneliness, fame, family, comedy, and fathers.
STEVE! (martin) is an Apple TV+ documentary about the life and career of Steve Martin, broken up into two parts. The first talks about his stand-up career up to his first starring role in The Jerk. The second part is a mish-mash of his film career and something he’s doing today that the doc barely wants to mention, probably in an attempt to make it not feel like a pandering advertisement for Only Murders in the Building.
Part 1 is a pretty deep dive into his early career up to the point he just quit to make movies. I never realized he was quite as big as he was as a standup... the first rock star comedian, selling out arenas.…
Second Piece
Somehow manages to go up a level in the second half. It’s the little things that elevate it to something quietly impactful: jumping from archival footage to present day material, the creative use of cartoons, or just the way loneliness acts as a connective tissue, not just across the two parts of the documentary, but throughout Steve’s life.
Man, that scene of him reading the PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES script almost broke me. The sadness just crept up on him out of no where. It causes the scene to play out like a jump-scare of sadness for the viewer.
