A case can be made that Mel Brooks is the funniest man alive. The legendary writer and director created some of the best comedies of all time, from the Oscar-winning The Producers to the genre spoofs Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.
He also lived an incredible life, one so full that Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s always entertaining, occasionally moving documentary, Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, is over 200 minutes long and split into four parts. Chronicling his humble beginnings as an impoverished child in 1920s Brooklyn, the doc spotlights Brooks’ time as a writer on one of TV’s earliest hits, Your Show of Shows, as well as his peak as one of Hollywood’s most powerful players in the late 1960s and early 1970s and unexpected Broadway fame in the 2000s. It also highlights Brooks’ 41-year-long marriage to The Graduate actress Anne Bancroft and his lifelong friendships with Carl Reiner and his son, Rob Reiner, who died late last year.
Featuring insightful interviews with some of Mel’s key collaborators and fans like Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, David Lynch and Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! is a welcome and frequently funny stroll through the life of a key 20th-century artist. Brooks himself appears throughout the doc, still telling jokes and sharing details on his next project, and if we’re all as lively, active and hilarious as he is at 99, we’re in good shape.
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