''Gilbert'' is a 2017 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the life and career of comedian

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent, and his edgy, often controversial, sense of humor. His numerous ro ...

. 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 roast that occurred right after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. 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 skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

. 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 Aflac Inc. (American Family Life Assurance Company) is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. The company was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., A ...

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 Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

on April 20, 2017. The film was also shown at the 2017

Hot Docs Film Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

and the 2017

deadCENTER Film Festival The deadCENTER Film Festival was founded in 2001 in Oklahoma City. The festival was named "deadCENTER" because it is located in the exact center of the United States. Although presenting over a hundred films, and an international assemblage of film ...

The film was acquired by

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an independent film distribution company owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles, California in 2006 and moved its headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio in 2019, where it f ...

and was released in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on November 3, 2017 and in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

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

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

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-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, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Gilbert'' has an approval rating of 95%, based on reviews from 21 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

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