A bio-pic of the controversial 1960's comedian and social commentator Lenny Bruce - told in interview-cum-flashback style.<br /><br />Presuming you know anything about LB at all, what do you want to believe? That he was a comedic genius who was a forerunner to today's "alternative comedians" or a foul mouthed drug addict whose only working tool was to shock and titillate a virgin audience? Here it hardly matters whether you like the man himself or would have laughed at his material if present at his better shows. No one much was laughing much near the end - as this film clearly testifies.<br /><br />Curiously, this is a film that is neither a love-in nor a condemnation. More a cold eyed and professional look at a life lived - by self choice - on the edge.<br /><br />(I am sure that fellow "edge livers" will give this movie an extra star just for topic alone.) <br /><br />This film has three pieces of good fortune: The star talent of Dustin Hoffman, the confident direction of Bob Fosse and the cool b&w cinematography of Bruce Surtees. However the pacing is slow and given that we know the pathetic final reel (indeed it is used as the first reel and we work backwards!) it is a slow journey to nowhere all that special.<br /><br />Lenny loved sleaze. Strippers, dope, stag films, parties that you can't remember much about the next day. All well recorded here. So unlike other comedians who climb the ladder from dive to Broadway we feel sorry for him in success because it took him away from what he loved best. And, as many have found out before and since, if you lash out at society, society will hit back - and you find that society has a lot more weapons than a microphone.<br /><br />The legal cases give this film a second act, but as I have suggested before, there isn't a third. Bad dope (or a mistake with it) took his life and others took on the baton of what he was trying to do - and to be frank, did it a whole lot better. How ironic that the "black Lenny Bruce" Richard Prior followed his self-destructive model so closely. But Prior could act as well (when given a chance - see him in Blue Collar) and was a wonderful visual comedian. Bruce was, meanwhile, all voice.<br /><br />Nothing dates quicker than comedy and people that once made the world laugh (such as Chaplin) are now viewed as being anything but funny. The stage act (sometimes viewed in cold detachment from the gods) won't make you laugh, it might make you nod and smile occasionally, but no more.<br /><br />In reality I feel nothing for LB, he was a minor player in the world of showbiz who made his own choices and took his own risks. The talents and legacy of Fosse and Hoffman will ring on forever - which makes him the third banana in his own life story!