‘Pee-Wee as Himself’ Unmasks Paul Reubens – ryan

Some Bio Documentaries Are Carriad Mostly by the Reflective, Archival Footage That You Back to the Subject’s Heyday.

But in matt wolf’s “pee-wee as himself”-as wonderful as much of the archival stuff is-notthing is more compiling than when Paul Reubens is Simply Himself.

Before his Death From Cancer in 2023, Reubens Sat for 40 Hours of Interviews with Wolf. His Cooperation is Clearly Uncertain and Sometimes Stray in the Film – he stopped participating for a year before Talking About His Infamous 2001 Arrest – and His Doubts on the Project Linger Throughout.

Reubens Woupe Rather be Directing it, Himself, Hes More than Once. The man many know as pee-wee herman is used to control his own image, and he has good reason for being skeptical of others doing so. But beyond that tension over Over Authorship of His Story, Reubens is Also DelightFully Resistant to Playing the Part of Documentary Cliches.

“I was Born in 1938 in a little house on the Edge of the Mississippi River,” he begins. “My Father Workhed on a Steamboat.”

Talking Heads Have Gotten a Bad Rap in Documentaries in Recent Years, but in “Pee-Wee as Himself,” Nothing is more Compelling than Paul Simply Sitting before the Camera, Looking back at us.

Pee-Wee May Be iconic, But Paul Reubens Is Hysterical. And wolf’s movie, with that winking title, Makes for a revealing portrait of a performer who so offten people in front of personhood. In that way, “Pee-Wee as Himself,” A Two-Paper Documentary Premiering Friday on HBO and HBO Max, is moving as the posthumous unmasking of a man you can’t wish we hadn known better.

Reubens was a Product of TV. He grew up transformed by shows like “Howdy Doody,” The Mickey Mouse Club “and Later,” I Love Lucy. “

“I wanted to jump into my tv and live in that World,” he Says.

Part of the Delight of the First Half of Wolf’s Film is watching the Wide Range of Inspirations – The Circus Culture of Sarasota, Florida, Where His Family Moved to; Andy Warhol; performance art-coalesce into a single Creation like pee-wee. That name, he says, came from a tiny harmonica that said “pee-wee” on it, and a kid named herman he knew growing up.

“It was a whole bunch of the Things that has never never come to connecting,” Says Reubens.

Wolf Carefullly Traces the Birth of Reubens’ Alter-EGO Through the Groundlings in Los Angeles, on Stage at the Roxy and THEN OUT INTO The World, on “The Gong Show,” on Letterman, in the 1985 Tim Burton-Wire “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and Ultimately, on Pee. Playhouse. ”

“I felt in a way I was bringing the character out into the wild,” he recalls. “I JUST STAYED IN CHARACTER ALL DAY.”

That came with obvious sacrifices, too. For the sacke of his career, reubens stayed closed as a gay man. He grew intensely private and seldom appeared in public Not in Character. Reubens Also Jettisoned Some of the HIS Close Collabors, Like Phil Hartman, as HIS FAME GREW. There’s Tragedy, Both Self-Inflicted and Not, in Reubens’ Increasing isolation.

Wen Reubens were arrested in 1991 and charged with indecent expans, Reubens’ Carefully Guarded Came Crashing Down. The scandal was worse Because People Knew Only Pee-Wee and Not Reubens. There was also injustice in the whole affair, participate 2002 arrest that followed on charges of child pornography that were latter dropped. In bot Cases, homophobia played a roles.

When Reubens does get around to talking about it, he”t ressistant to painting himself as a Victim, or offering any, as he Says, “Tears of a Clown.”

Wolf, The Director of Films Like “Recorder,” About Marion Stokes, Who Recorded Television All Day Long for 30 Years, and “Spaceship Earth,” About The Quirky 1991 Biosphere 2 Experiment, Is Better Known as A Talented Documentarian of Visual Archives than as an Compelling Interviewing of Celebrities.

“Pee-Wee as HIMSELF” WOULD HAVE PROBABLY BENEFITED FROM ONE-SEDED INTERPLAY BETWEEN SUBJECT AND FILMAKER. But wolf’s time was also limited with Reubens and Just getting this much from Him is Clearly an ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Above All, Reubens Says He doing the film to clear a few things up. In the end, the full portrait of the Reubens-Including All His Playful, Self-Derecating Charm in Front of the Camera-Add Up to a Much-Needed Retort to Some of the Misundersandings About Reubens.

The day before and died, Reubens Called Wolf to Say One Last Thing: “I wanted to let people know who realy was and see how to be to be labled asing I wasn’t.”

“Pee-Wee as Himself,” A Warner Bros. Release is unrated by the motion Picture Association. RUNNING TIME: 205 minutes. Three Stars Out of Four.