Grade: B+

Verdict: Stand-up is no laughing matter.

Details: Starring Jerry Seinfeld, Orny Adams, Colin Quinn. Directed by Charles Christian. Rated R for language. Running time of 1 hour, 21 minutes. Limited release.

See it: Local theaters and showtimes for Comedian

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Review:
In the documentary "Comedian," a chronicle about stand-up comedy, there's a moment likely scarier than anything you'll see in "The Ring" or "Ghost Ship."

Jerry Seinfeld, retired TV megastar, is putting together a new act after retiring all of his old material in 1998. He's performing at small comedy clubs, working out material, building his oral arsenal. And then, one night, he completely blanks.

It's a painful, lengthy moment as Seinfeld struggles to find his place. The wheels, you can see, are spinning in his head, but the car is upside-down. "Is this your first gig?" a woman yells from the audience. The comedian has been bested.

It's that love-hate relationship with an audience that is at the heart of "Comedian," which features Seinfeld and a lesser-known comic, Orny Adams, as they struggle with what sounds like a simple task: being funny.

Shot in murky digital video, "Comedian" is mostly about Seinfeld's return to the road, playing subterranean comedy clubs with new material that over a year grows from a paltry 10 minutes to more than an hour. The comic, who is worth untold millions, is often greeted with standing ovations and wild applause. But that, as fellow comedian Colin Quinn observes, is just a short grace period. "You still gotta be funny," Quinn tells Seinfeld during a post-show chat over drinks.

As Seinfeld's confidence grows, his material gets sharper and funnier. But it never stops him from nitpicking his own performance, agonizing over a misused word or a less-than-perfect set to any famous stand-up who'll listen, from Ray Romano to Chris Rock to Jay Leno.

The other side of "Comedian" is the story of up-and-comer Adams, a New Yorker who is so high-strung, he descends back into a depressive state just moments after being told he's secured a spot at a prestigious comedy festival.

Adams lives in an apartment surrounded by thousands of jokes he's written. He's never shown with family or friends, and his nights seem to consist of critiques of his own shows. Adams falls into some good luck — he hooks up with Seinfeld's agent, George Shapiro, and performs on "The Late Show With David Letterman."

But mostly, Adams whines about the brutality of stand-up comedy, the jealousy inherent in the business and his own ambitions. When Seinfeld and Adams meet, Seinfeld is taken aback by Adams' be-famous-at-all-costs attitude. Perhaps it's that Seinfeld doesn't remember the desperate hunger inherent in trying to make it.

"Comedian" shows some footage of Seinfeld and Adams' comedy, but never enough (here's hope the eventual DVD edition will offer more). It also paints Seinfeld in glowing, angelic tones. He reverently visits his own idol, Bill Cosby, before a show, and the two hug. Seinfeld is shown smiling at the beach with his wife and daughter, while Adams is shown ignoring good advice from a comedy club owner, then belittling Seinfeld behind his back.

In both cases, the business of stand-up is shown to be grim, frustrating and tough. Even one of the best-known comics in the world still has to craft his set one joke at a time. On stage, the comic is always one botched punch line away from failure.

— Omar Gallaga, Austin American-Statesman