The Last Laugh
Feature documentary about humor and the Holocaust, examining whether it is ever acceptable to use humor in connection with a tragedy of that scale, and the implications for other seemingly off-limits topics in a society that prizes free speech.
24 November 1974, Bristol, England, UK
20 August 1967, Ramat Gan, Israel
28 July 1947, Portland, Oregon, USA
4 April 1964, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
7 April 1964, Wellington, New Zealand
28 November 1962, New York City, New York, USA
1 April 1974, Christoval, Texas, USA
4 April 1935, Chicago, Illinois, USA
20 March 1922, The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
23 September 1959, Newark, New Jersey, USA
16 March 1926, Newark, New Jersey, USA
3 March 1923, Queens, New York, USA
12 September 1967, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
8 February 1926, The Bronx, New York, USA
October 5, 1902 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
19 July 1961, Trumbull, Connecticut, USA
February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
17 July 1952, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
23 December 1943, Los Angeles, California, USA
24 August 1973, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
22 March 1920, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
18 April 1963, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
March 13, 2017
Intriguing in that it lays out the case that we can now make jokes about the Holocaust and lets the viewers decide for themselves whether they've made the point.
March 10, 2017
It remains an enlightening conversation. And the movie is that: a conversation, not a thesis erecting an argument.
March 09, 2017
The Last Laugh is a multifaceted and extremely thought-provoking documentary about the place of comedy in contending with the Jewish genocide during WWII.
April 01, 2017
Part of the film's charm is in its reluctance to sit on one side of the fence, and it instead acknowledges the plurality of experiences and interpretations.
March 09, 2017
What's fascinating is the difference in perspectives.
May 09, 2017
When it floats away from its star talent, The Last Laugh becomes a viciously humane work, on a journey as vigorous as any contemplated by D.A. Pennebaker and his sort.
March 03, 2017
[An] insightfully open-ended inquiry into the role of humor as it relates to unspeakable tragedy.
March 16, 2017
At times haphazard but always involving ...
March 23, 2017
Sit down with The Last Laugh and have the last laugh over those who committed horrors in the past, are doing so now, and will in future.
March 09, 2017
Ferne Pearlstein's The Last Laugh is a rather safe and genteel documentary about the limits of humor (especially as they pertain to the Holocaust), but it opens with a subtly provocative sequence of events that's hard to shake.
March 03, 2017
There are a lot of fascinating flashes.
March 24, 2017
At a time when many of us look to comedy to keep us sane, the question is especially pertinent, although the answers here aren't especially penetrating.
