Remembering Gene Wilder

Ron Frank's 2024 documentary follows Gene Wilder's career from his first collaboration with Mel Brooks on The Producers to the title role in Willy Wonka and the comedies with Richard Pryor. Its most valuable material is the memoir passages read in Wilder's own voice and what Mel Brooks recounts; the relationship between the two is the film's emotional centre. The film explains Wilder's comic method well: instead of playing loudly for laughs, playing in complete earnest and leaving the laughter to the audience. Its weakness is how quickly it passes over the hard parts of his life, particularly what followed Gilda Radner's death and his own Alzheimer's diagnosis; the documentary chooses to be a memorial, and that choice limits its depth. Who it's for: viewers who love American comedy history and Gene Wilder's films. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a portrait with critical distance, or who dislikes documentaries assembled as accumulated praise.