''Gilbert'' is a 2017 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the life and career of comedian Gilbert Gottfried. It opened in theaters on November 3, 2017.

Synopsis

The film depicts Gottfried's everyday life with his wife and two children. The film also depicts Gottfried's interactions (on occasion in his real voice) with his two sisters and his relationship with his parents. The film also discusses The Aristocrats joke told at the

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the ''Playboy ...

roast that occurred right after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. Gottfried had just made a joke about a flight to California that had to make a stop at the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

. The film also discusses the controversy surrounding tweets Gottfried made after the earthquake disaster in Japan that led to his firing as the voice of the Aflac duck.

Cast

:''All appearing as themselves''

Release

''Gilbert'' premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 20, 2017. The film was also shown at the 2017 Hot Docs Film Festival and the 2017 deadCENTER Film Festival The film was acquired by Gravitas Ventures and was released in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on November 3, 2017 and in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

on November 10, 2017. ''Gilbert'' was released on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

on November 14, 2017.

Reception

Critical response

The film earned high critical praise. On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Gilbert'' has an approval rating of 95%, based on reviews from 22 critics. The website's consensus reads, "''Gilbert'' pays tribute to a veteran comedian whose famously grating act belies his thoughtful personality -- and anchors a surprisingly insightful film."

Awards

''Gilbert'' won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2017 deadCENTER Film Festival.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert 2017 films 2017 documentary films American documentary films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films