Bitter Jester

Infobox_Film
name=Bitter Jester


caption = The movie cover for "Bitter Jester".
imdb_id=0353244
writer=Maija Di Giorgio
David Burton Levin
starring=Maija Di Giorgio, Jody Delgiorno
director=Maija Di Giorgio
music=Joe Delia | distributor=
released=February 26, 2003
runtime=
language=English
movie_series=
awards=
producer=Kenneth Simmons
budget=|

"Bitter Jester" is a documentary starring Maija Di Giorgio, Kenny Simmons, Jody Del Giorno and Heather McConnell. It's a portrait of the comedy world that includes interviews with a multitude of stars including Richard Pryor, Richard Belzer and many others.

Plot

Maija Di Giorgio is a naive New York comic who's therapist recommends a video diary as a means of examining her self. Maija's borderline psychotic ex-boxer boyfriend, Kenny Simmons and director of photography, Jody Del Giorno sees a means to instant stardom. Maija, searching to find answers to the meaning of life and art, the answers for art and artific, allows Kenny to impose his "vision" onto her film. Before long, the three (along with a crew of misfits) are criss-crossing the country, interviewing celebrities under a parade of false pretenses. In one famous incident, Kenny makes the cover of The New York Post after a confrontation with Jerry Seinfeld.

Film Festivals

*CineQuest Film Festival
*London Comedy Film Festival
*US Comedy Arts Festival Aspen
*Tribeca Film Festival

Critical reception

Dennis Harris of Variety said "making a movie without really knowing what it's going to be about is not generally advisable, but Maija Di Giorgio's 'Bitter Jester' makes that process quite entertaining." Harris hailed "Jester" as "often hilarious and always diverting" and noted "Di Giorgio may fret that 'Maybe comedy isn't the thing I should be pursuing.' Regardless, she definitely has a future as a filmmaker." [cite news | author=Dennis Harris | url=http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117920377.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 | title=Bitter Jester | publisher=Variety | date=2003-03-26 | accessdate=2007-05-31 ]

Steve Rhodes of the Online Film Critics Society praised "Bitter Jester is much funnier and more insightful than a similar documentary, Comedian" [cite news | author=Steve Rhodes | url=http://us.imdb.com/Reviews/343/34338 | title=Bitter Jester | publisher=Internet Reviews | date=2003 | accessdate=2007-05-31 ] while MetroActiv described it as "Intense, disturbing, and voyeuristic, the documentary about standup that's not afraid to jump right into the muck." [cite news | author=MetroActiv | url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/03.06.03/cinequest-0310.html | title=Bitter Jester | publisher=MetroActiv | date=2003-03-08 | accessdate=2007-05-31 ]

Celebrity appearances

*Joy Behar
*Richard Belzer
*Peter Boyle
*George Carlin
*Chevy Chase
*Norm Crosby
*Phyllis Diller
*Whoopi Goldberg
*Gilbert Gottfried
*D.L. Hughley
*Dom Irrera
*Kevin James
*Terry Jones
*Richard Kind
*Kathy Kinney
*Robert Klein
*Barry Manilow
*Colin Mochrie
*Paul Mooney
*Richard Pryor
*Colin Quinn
*Tony Roberts
*Ray Romano
*Rita Rudner
*Vincent Schiavelli
*George Schlatter
*Paul Shaffer
*Ryan Stiles
*Jerry Stiller
*Nicole Sullivan
*Judy Tenuta
*Rich Vos

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0353244|title=Bitter Jester