Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds

I enjoyed this documentary very much, having been a huge fan of Debbie Reynolds my whole life. When I was young, my mother used to take me to see all of her movies, and the first time I was ever in a movie theater, I saw "Bundle of Joy", one of my favorites.

However, the most enjoyable part of this documentary for me was the opening credits (if I remember correctly) when they were playing a recording of Eddie Fisher, Carrie and Todd's father. I didn't recognize the song, but I was totally moved by his beautiful voice. Voices like that are very rare, and it just saddens me that with the usual fall into obscurity for performers, as Carrie Fisher points out, it made a more rapid decline in his case due to his personal life choices. Yet, for just a few moments, I could be enraptured and carried away by the sound of his beautiful voice and musicality.

I saw this last month at the AFI. Funny, witty, charming, sad, tragic...all of this...now even more sad and tragic with Carrie's passing today. I am so glad I saw this while she was still living. It was filmed over a year ago, but it was so moving and touching. My heart goes out to Debbie, we all thought she'd pass before her daughter. You made a difference Carrie and you left a legacy of your own behind. This documentary is about a mother and daughter, a famous mother and daughter at that. They went through so many hard times, yet there were wonderful times as well. Both are legends in their own right. Two legends in the same family.

Bright Lights is an illuminating look inside the homes and lives of two legends. I love Carrie Fisher cooking a soufflé for her mother Debbie Reynolds and then walking out Carrie's backdoor across their shared backyard and into her Debbie's back door to share a meal with mom. They share more than that with us. It's like sitting on their living room couch and going thru the family album, warts and all. How were they able to live thru all their tribulations? Maybe that they learned to talk about it and deal with it instead of letting if fester and burst inside. And there was laughter, and stories about other celebrities and other heartaches. But what I liked most was their humanity towards each other and that unsinkable spirit that kept them going until all energy was gone from them. What I liked least about it was these two wonderful women should have know the damage drugs, alcohol and cigarettes would do and avoided them. I heard Carrie drank up to 16 Cokes a day and I wonder if the Coke connection with her father had something to do with her addiction to sodas. And Debbie could have had someone to stop her from performing until she was ready to drop. I know it was her choice but they both could have been saved from themselves by their friends. Thank you ladies for all that you gave and shared and God Bless Todd now alone

When Carrie Fisher passed away unexpectedly late last year, at that time knowing nothing about the health of her mother, Debbie Reynolds, only her age - 84 - I thought to myself, this kind of a shock could do a person in at that age. And the next day it did.

This documentary shows these two as much more than just mother and daughter, but fast friends. It is a great tribute to both ladies. It talks a little bit about Debbie's past problems - being abandoned by her husband with two small children, then marrying a guy she thought would bring her family some stability and security, but it didn't - he in fact bankrupted them with his compulsive gambling. And she faced all of this with dignity and was a fighter.

Debbie doesn't do that much talking for or about herself. In fact through most of the documentary it is mentioned how she is feeling just awful, but you'd never guess it. She is always dressed to the nines and smiling - something Carrie said she learned as a recruit in the old studio system at MGM. And then, feeling awful, Debbie books a Las Vegas show and brings her children into the act because she simply can't do the whole show. She just couldn't retire outright because she loved entertaining and loved the audiences.

Carrie does most of the talking. Like mom, she is a fighter, and also has quite a sense of humor. She fought her way back from a childhood in which she was abandoned by her dad, Eddie Fisher, in every way possible. It's like he just left them behind like they were part of a past life - until Carrie had some success and he came back asking for money. She fought her way back from drug addiction and her failed marriage to Paul Simon, who was much older than she, and during the documentary she is quite open about her battle with her weight as she tries to get the pounds off with the help of a trainer in preparation for the Star Wars film, "Episode 7". The trainer keeps trying to take her sodas away from her - which she keeps replenishing.

Carrie has a visit from old childhood chum Griffin Dunne, and they easily talk about their youth. After all of the awful stuff you have just learned about her dad, Eddie Fisher, and his parental negligence, Carrie goes to visit him, and he does look like death warmed over at this point, and Carrie tells him that she loves him and she seems to really mean it. It is revealed during the documentary that Eddie Fisher was a drug addict too, and I think having that common experience with her dad has made it easier for her to forgive him. What a classy lady. Eddie Fisher passed away in 2010, so obviously this part of the documentary was shot much earlier.

Todd, Carrie's younger brother, is in the documentary too, but he doesn't have much to say.

The documentary is not in "this is your life" style. It is more just following Debbie and Carrie around and showing the deep relationship and love they had for one another. Dance on in the afterlife classy ladies, you'll both be terribly missed. I miss you already.

Obviously, highly recommended.

Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

It's funny how events that happen before a movie's release can change the way you view it. A great example is THE CROW where Brandon Lee was killed during the production and this left a rather morbid atmosphere over an already dark movie. When you view BRIGHT LIGHTS, the documentary about the relationship between Debbie Reynolds and her daughter Carrie Fisher, you can't help but know the tragic turn of events that happened before this aired on HBO. It's even more uncanny when one of the earliest moments in the film has Carrie asking her mom about her will.

With that said, this is an extremely good and very entertaining documentary that traces both ladies rise in Hollywood. We learn about Reynolds career, how she got involved in Eddie Fisher, the birth of their two children and of course what followed. With Fisher we learn about her relationship with her parents, her rise in STAR WARS and of course the drug addiction and depression. From here we also get to meet Todd Fisher and get some wonderful moments with him and, in one of the film's highlights, his poster collection, which he uses to tell his life story.

BRIGHT LIGHTS is certainly a film that fans of the there are going to enjoy as there are some terrific moments captured. There are some great stories told as well as quite a bit of archival footage showing Carrie and Todd when they were children. We also get to see inside the homes of the three, which is a great movie all by itself. Reynolds movie memorabilia collection is also looked at and discussed and we also get some footage of some of her final moments on a stage.

With that said, there's no question that there's a lingering sadness that surrounds the film. There are some uncanny moments that will certainly make you think to the events that happened towards the end of Carrie and Debbie's lives. In a weird way, what happened to Debbie is a lot more understandable once you see this film and see how close the two of them were.