Aww, the sad clown

I saw the Jerry Seinfeld documentary Comedian today, and greatly enjoyed its inside view of the life of a performer. The film shows J.S. as he "starts from scratch" with all new material -- though he travels to gigs by private jet and stays in five-star hotel suites -- and contrasts his angst with the positively maniacal anhedonia of an up-and-coming comic named Orny Adams. It's a wonderful backstage view of the neuroses of performers in this age of saturation media.

However, looking for references on the web, I spotted this capsule review (bottom of page) by Dennis Lim in the Village Voice, and found myself agreeing with every word, including the bit about "the redeptive ending that Seinfeld would have mocked." I also found, for the first time, the Metacritic website, which is a wonderful resource.