Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

HoldenSpark You feel bored at first. You're kind of embarrassed for Lisa Kudrew at first. Don't we all feel on some level that she's somebody we already know and love and sort of our friend because we've all had that great experience watching her as an equal and vital part of "Friends"?At first you kind of just feel weird about "The Comeback". And there's all this kind of stuff that isn't exactly groundbreaking, and the first episode you see, regardless of which of the first 12 episodes you happen to watch as the initial episode that you watch will probably leave you thinking, why in the world would I (me, now, this guy who's writing all for you to read) tell you that any episode you pick up first will leave you feeling bored. Thats not a very good way to start a review, is it? And yet..., and yet...I missed the original airing of this series and happened across all 13 being offered "on demand" on HBO cable his past weekend (april 2007) and never having heard of it noticed it had Lisa K. and thought I'd watch it just cause of that. I watched episode six first. And was kinda bored. And just though, oh, uh, whatever. So, watched something else next that day. But, then it was a slow TV day and it was cold outside and I flipped around and nothing else was one so I came back to this and just jumped ahead to the last one, #13 thinking that, well, even if it was boring at least I'd know what a happened, as it did kinda make me wonder, as boring as it was....Then I watched the last episode (#13) as the second one in this series I watched. And I was drawn in a little more, cause there are some really awful feelings that come out during the episode which I felt really strangely and really deeply cause I didn't know what was going on. But I kinda sorta did. And I felt kind of embarrassed for them all. But I couldn't help noticing how deeply this stored bored into me in that episode, on a level that was unusual, especially given its (still, to me) tepid nature. Albeit episode #13 did give a decent payoff.So, I decided to watch another episode and thought I'd better just watch the episode before episode #13, in case they were all boring and this was the best it was going to get. So I watched #12. And was stunned to find myself being drawn in a little more. And so I kind of wanted to watch #11 by then as I decided I'd just count down backwards.And, as I did, I began to "get it". And I began to understand what they were doing, and how incredible Lisa Kudrow was actually being, in this remarkable achievement. And each time I dropped back an episode I became more and more increduleious at how they had and were and did and were still doing, turning all this boring stuff into something incredible. And as the episodes rolled backwards I actually changed over from being bored to being totally engrossed and I began to laugh out loud once I began to "get it". And I started to actually tear up a little, and I begin to understand that somehow, show how, from the seemingly dull and boring and slow and kind of mindless they were being more than just the obviously wickedness they were also being after you got past the idea it was boring, and I realized they were creating something much much more, they looked into this woman's soul and they had found not only her, the characters humanity, but all of the cast were actually being all they could be in these roles and building a platform upon which Lisa Kudrow stood and then she delivered something worthy of all the effort it took to hold her up there, she did them, the cast holding her up there, justice, and she did us, the audience, justice, and she did her own self justice, and she did the character justice, and she did justice even to her old cast mates in Friends, and she brought honor even upon her own family, for this is something they could be proud of from her in a way that is universal. For, in fact, she brought humanity to this woman, the real humanity of exactly how this woman would live in our world as it is today. Lisa portrayed, in this character, life as it really is. No matter who you are or what you do, most people, when it comes down to it, deep inside have the same fears and hopes and dreams and ways of getting along in the world but still wanting what ever it is you want.By the time I'd come to the end I was enormously sad that this was all there would ever be of this series and that I would never again be able to have the joy of seeing it all for the first time. And I'm so glad I watched it in the way I did, for it was the best way to see it.Though there will not be more episodes, its okay. For this series, these 13 episodes comprise a masterpiece. It is the Citizen Kane of the work of our generation of storytelling. I predict that over time it will rise in esteem as "Its a Wonderful Life" did. The Comeback is just as good and worthy.I hope you "get it". I sure did.

liquidcelluloid-1 Network: HBO; Genre: Comedy, Satire, Parody; Content Rating: TV-MA (profanity, adult content, nudity, sexual humor); Available: DVD; Perspective: Cult Classic (star range: 1 - 5) Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season) In early 90s Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) was the It girl on a hit sitcom called "I'm It". Now, in the new millennium with the death of the sitcom looming on the horizon and reality shows (band-aids on a problem that are themselves starting to peel off) providing has-been celebrities a temporary life-line back onto TV, Valerie gets a chance to make a comeback in the form of a reality series. "The Comeback", the show within the one we are watching, documents her new career taking a bit role on a network sitcom called "Room & Bored". As the documentary cameras intrude on Valerie's life and her not-so-photogenic real life intrudes on the reality show and "Room & Bored" (plagued with problems from the beginning) itself continues to fall apart, Valerie all the while maintains a phony smile and naively optimistic attitude about the whole thing."The Comeback" is a triumph for both co-creators. An acting triumph for Kudrow who explodes in a volcano of talent that laid dormant for 10 years on "Friends". A creative triumph for Michael Patrick King who answers the call to follow up one of TV's all time best shows in "Sex and the City" by making not one new show, but three in one. Now, that mean streak the bubbled under the surface of "Sex", but was forced down by the show's romanticism gets to break out and attack.Kudrow is absolutely brilliant here, effortlessly carrying the series with naturally comic instincts. As a personality that was associated with everything that is young and hip for so long, it is incredibly bold the way Kudrow fully embraces a role as an unlikable out-of-touch, over-the-Hollywood-hill actress. She disappears into Valerie, who is something like Shelly Long and Katharine Hepburn doing David Brent. "Comeback" is a one-woman showcase, built around Valerie suffering one indignity after another (many involving "Bored's" co-creator, Paulie G, who absolutely hates her) while she smiles for the cameras, pushes her emotions down and explains away every disaster unfolding in front of her face. It is often heartbreaking and painful to watch. When Valerie could just as easily have been a punchline, Kudrow gives her a nuanced depth with layer upon layer of repressed, passive-aggressive behavior. She gets buy out of a sheer single-minded fortitude for attention and "to be heard". So much of this performance is in what she doesn't say, a pain behind her eyes. She was Emmy robbed.I've always admired King's desire and ability to make TV more than the audience's low expectations allow. He respects his audience and trusts our intelligence to get it. Not many people will be comfortable with a comedy like "Comeback" symbolically structured like a Greek tragedy or take the time to analyze King's endless world of visual metaphors. "Comeback" is a deeply thought out show about shallow TV. Here King breaks apart both the reality series and the sitcom, then cobbles them together flawlessly.Kudrow and King hopelessly cage Valerie in an entertainment chasm where sitcoms are dying but the quick-fix solution of reality shows turns out to be even more dangerous. Every other show that has poked fun at this genre always does so with an admiring wink and nod. On the contrary, King has no love for reality TV. He shows the clutter of a 3-man camera crew crashing through a room before its subject walks in. He shows the participants editing, re-editing and contriving their own lives for the cameras. He goes beyond showing the participants being manipulated in editing, he shows them being violated by the cameras for cheap laughs that are celebrated by a public that takes pleasure in mocking celebrities. "Comeback" gives us the sharpest and most honestly ugly look at the reality of reality TV you will see. Valerie slowly has the hope that this forum will get her back in the spotlight drained as she looses more and more control over her show.That same downward glare is applied to sitcoms. As the other show within the show, "Room & Bored" is a perfectly awful parody of every youth-pandering network series that is fun to rip on but would probably be a solid hit if it was really on NBC or Fox. The sheer straight-faced nature of everything and the intricate detail King puts into making "Bored" believable makes it all the funnier. Just about every joke here works. From Juna (Malin Akerman) the sexy break-out star whose popularity swallows up the show to a retooling attempt that jams 2 new characters into an already crowded mix, "Bored" appears to Jump the Shark several times. A combustible piece of fitful hilarity, "Valarie Hangs Out with the Cool Kids" maybe my favorite episode.To the outside observer Lisa Kudrow's appearance as a once-sitcom star might make it look like "The Comeback" is sponging off her own sitcom. No, "Comeback" is a dark series, raw, messy and miserable. Valerie Cherish will probably scare the bejesus out of the average "Friends" fan. The laughs are found in humiliation, awkward silence and King's pension for injecting real world details everywhere. If there was any thought that the cringing humor of "The Office" couldn't be replicated in America, "Comeback" busts that up.More consistent than "Curb Your Enthusiasm", a better Inside Hollywood show than "Entourage". King has laser-focused "The Comeback" as a contemporary satire about its specific time and place in the television timeline, yet the show so richly satisfying, complexly rendered and its breakout classic lead character is so unique that it is hard to forget or easily dismiss. A TV show for TV fans, "Comeback" is audience-challenging, utterly hilarious and very highly recommended.* * * * / 5

hanksank I've read all the comments here, so there's no need to go into the plot or what happens, I'll just voice my opinion on why the show didn't really connect with me, the general public.It seems like it really wanted to be 'The Office' or 'Extras'- two brilliant shows from the UK. But the overall problem is, this woman that Kudrow plays is quite privileged and rich- she lives in a mansion, has a marriage, has a JOB, and is a former sitcom star. It's just difficult to feel sorry for the 'haves'.Anyone who wakes up in her mansion and complains about a silly line on a worthless sitcom is simply not a woman most people can relate to. She doesn't have to be 'likable' at all, she can be despicable, but if I don't relate to her or any of her situations, why should I care?James Burrows makes a guest appearance as her director. He's the son of Abe Burrows, by the way, an American icon who wrote the musical 'Guys and Dolls' among others- and various other 'real life' sitcom people pop in and out, but still I couldn't muster up much interest past the first few shows.It's true, when she went to Palm Springs, the story finally took on some much needed depth- her friend who had cancer and the changes in the hotel were funny- but even then, when the friend who was meant to be 'free of caring what other people thought' took off her bikini top, she quickly covered it up with a magazine in one of the most awkward gestures on television. Was this a comment that she was NOT really free? I wish. It was just shot poorly, and was clearly a comment that they hired an actress who was ashamed of her own (quite beautiful) body.I wanted to love this show. I think Kudrow is a terrific actress. But ultimately I just didn't care.

Teenagemillionaire Surprisingly I liked this series. The first time I heard about this was through Entertertainment Tonight, and thought it was some new lame sitcom with Lisa Kudrow. When I saw it I thought it was great and was a new kind of television show that was much needed. It was a fake reality show, which is the best kind because you can manipulate what your character is going to do. I was really impressed with Kudrow, this is about as far from Pheobe as you can get and it works. Lisa Kudrow was always the more talented of the friends and here it really shows. She portrays this sad, depressing character so wrapped up in the LA lifestyle and popularity contest that Hollywood is, and satirises this so perfectly. A show like this is so welcome right now, what with Newlywed and Ashlee Simpson show - to name a few making stars of bimbos and egotistical nobodies, this takes this on and adds an embarrassing cringe worthy twist on it all. When i was watching it, it was hard to believe that this is mostly scripted and that what we are seeing is a bunch of actors, the show really feels like it is a reality show, and you do feel for the actors especially Valerie (kudrow). I would definitely recommend this if you are sick of Jessica/Ashlee Simpson, Hogan knows best and all those other reality, publicity stunt shows. A work of genius.