The Life of Reilly.

"The funniest and most poignant documentary of the year is The Life of Reilly, the final will and testament of the great Charles Nelson Reilly," writes Ed Gonzalez in Slant.

"Rambling, blithe, nostalgic, and out for revenge, Reilly presents a witty anecdotal timeline of his life, and the bittersweet milestones play like a Spalding Gray monologue loosened up with a few shots of tequila," writes Aaron Hillis in the Voice.

"[I]t's one of the winning eccentricities of The Life of Reilly, a taped distillation of CNR's autobiographical one-man-show, that it - feigned modesty aside - takes for granted that its subject's accomplishments are worthy of our attention and esteem," writes Nick Pinkerton at indieWIRE.

Reilly's one-man show Save It for the Stage "treads lightly around the rich subject of Mr Reilly's experience as an out gay man in the pre-Stonewall era," notes Matt Zoller Seitz in the New York Times. "The directors address it obliquely via man-on-the-street interviews asking strangers if they remember Mr Reilly. (Most do, and a couple of them attempt impressions.)"

"[E]ven abridged, The Life of Reilly is spellbinding," writes Noel Murray at the AV Club.

"Reilly takes the stage, empty but for a set of chairs, and adeptly summons an entire span of existence that leaves the audience hushed and heartbroken," writes Steph Auteri for Nerve. ". And then, while all are on the edge of their seat, he just as adeptly cuts that mute tension with a look or a throwaway comment that brings both belly laughs and relief."

Posted by dwhudson at November 16, 2007 8:19 AM