Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
An inspiring, triumphant and wickedly funny portrait of one of comedy’s most enigmatic and important figures, CALL ME LUCKY tells the story of Barry Crimmins, a beer-swilling, politically outspoken and whip-smart comic whose efforts in the 70s and 80s fostered the talents of the next generation of standup comedians. But beneath Crimmins’ gruff, hard-drinking, curmudgeonly persona lay an undercurrent of rage stemming from his long-suppressed and horrific abuse as a child – a rage that eventually found its way out of the comedy clubs and television shows and into the political arena.
Call Me Lucky is an unusually powerful documentary because Barry Crimmins himself is such a singular, contradictory figure — a firebrand political comic who channeled childhood trauma into genuine activism against AOL and child pornography online. Bobcat Goldthwait's direction gives the film a distinctive emotional arc that moves from comedy history to devastating personal revelation with real craft. The novelty is high because the subject and the emotional journey feel genuinely unlike most comedy documentaries. Cinematography is functional documentary work without much visual ambition. The plot structure is effective but follows a fairly standard 'hidden depths revealed' documentary template. The ending lands emotionally but doesn't quite transcend to something truly extraordinary.