Certifiably Jonathan (2007) User Reviews

Rest in Peace, J. Winters!

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 15 April 2013]

A famous comedian and artist wants to display his work at an art museum. Just when he thinks he has lost his touch, a series of famous comedians drop by to help him rekindle his artistic and comedic spark.

Following his recent death, watching this film is my way of getting to know Jonathan. I think it worked! Robin Williams does his hackneyed, humorless bit (and Winters makes a nice remark about how Williams has overshadowed him), and Jim Carrey even shows up. In fat, Carrey's few moments on screen are quite funny to me -- which is odd, given that I am not a huge Carrey fan. He has a quick wit, and I wish we saw more of that and less of his physical comedy in films.

Painfully unfunny

[jellopuke · 2/10 · 30 June 2021]

This is supposed to be a mockumentary but its not funny and nothing gets paid off. Most of the time Winters seems like he's senile and all of the cameos seem to have no idea what to do. I'm willing to guess that the premise was just "Winters will ad lib, he's funny" but NOTHING works. It's so bad that at first I just thought it was a terrible documentary. It was only when I learned that it was trying to be funny that I realized how awful it truly was. Poorly shot, edited, acted, set up, delivered... a blight on the man's legacy and virtually unwatchable.

The less one knows about this film going in, the better, so stop reading now!

[PKazee · 8/10 · 20 February 2011]

This film is a piece of performance art that intentionally confuses the line between fiction and reality, much as Andy Kaufman was once famous for. On the surface, this is a documentary about the desire of comedian Jonathan Winters to have his work as a painter taken seriously. Winters once spent some time in a mental hospital, so when his sanity begins to break under pressure to produce new work for a promised MoMA exhibit, viewers are left to wonder how much of his breakdown is real, and how much is a put on, as his behavior straddles a line between the frightening and ridiculous. Sadly, I fear that knowing it is all a put on prior to seeing the movie spoils much of the experience, since the film is not nearly as clever as a mere "mockumentary", as it is as an "Is He? or Isn't He?" piece of performance art.

Please don't judge Jonathan by this

[scarlettsdad · 3/10 · 4 August 2023]

I grew up watching Jonathan Winters and thought he was the funniest man alive. Before there was Robin Williams, there was Jonathan. The "mockunentary" is about him losing his sense of humor, and, sadly, it's not far from the truth, as this dreadfully unfunny cheap thing shows. Filling it with every comedian in Jonathan's phone book only makes it even sadder. No one is funny-and the scene with the Arquettes is horrendously painful. If you're young and unfamiliar with Winter's comedy, it at least has a good number of his old appearances.

And although they of course couldn't predict the future, the terrible ending with Robin Williams of all people talking Jonathan out of suicide-who is threatening to hang himself with an exaggerated noose around his neck is...well...yeah.

Winters was an ad-lobbing genius and deserved better. 3 stars only because I loved the guy.