Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking

I just watched this hugely entertaining tell-all, a rental from Netflix. If I weren't in the habit of sending the discs back immediately, I'd have watched it again. Carrie Fisher is clearly a highly intelligent -- if deeply neurotic --woman, but her frankness and wit even out the score. She skewers everyone in her path, but with such humor and self-deprecation that she has the audience with her all the way. She strikes me as someone who would be fun to know. But.... Perhaps at a slight distance. As others have written, the best part of the show is the Hollywood Genealogy Chart, and boy, does she have fun with it! So do we. Eddie Fisher, her father, receives most of the poisoned darts, but he clearly deserved them. But she must have forgiven him long ago; the show is dedicated to him.

The HBO taped production based on Carrie Fisher's memoir of the same name. Wow, what a life. Makes me want to read the book to see what didn't make the documentary. Eddie Fisher passed shortly after the taping and is dedicated to him. On the DVD version there is an hour long interview with her mother, Debbie Reynolds that was fascinating! Now Carrie is a star in the galaxy, interesting documentary for certain!

For some odd reason I never was aware of Carrie's "Wishful Drinking" show before after her untimely passing. So when I did happen to find it, I jumped at the chance to watch this. And I was sort of thrilled, because I have never seen her perform in something like this, much less did I actually know that she also did this kind of work.

It turned out that "Wishful Drinking" was a nice show on a couple of different levels. First and foremost, it was nice and open view into Carrie's life, past and struggles, and she didn't really wrap much in bubble wrap. And it was also a fun show, with a good amount of laughs and enjoyment.

I was genuinely surprised to see Carrie do this, and must admit that she excelled at it, and she felt very much at home on the stage. Watching "Wishful Drinking" does offer a good look into the real Carrie Fisher, especially if you haven't read her autobiographies beforehand. There are some very personal issues being aired, and they are delivered with honesty and often an approach that is spiced up with a pinch of comedy.

Now, this is not a stand-up comedy routine, so you should not expect that kind of show if you sit down to watch this without knowing what it is about.

"Wishful Drinking" is a very honest show, and one that all fans of Carrie Fisher should take the time to watch.

Carrie Fisher's one-woman Broadway show is a laid back treatise on life as a celebrity and a celebrity spawn. Fisher dishes on her famous parents but doesn't dig too deeply into her own battles with drugs, alcohol and celebrity. The highlight is a giant chalkboard of her famous family tree with which she tries to discern whether her daughter should date a man that may or may not be a relative. And yes, she dons the famous braids to remind us of the opportunity that allowed her to step out of her famous parents' shadow and into cultural iconography. All in all, Fisher is honest, blunt, and a bit too relaxed at times to add anything but kick-back giggles, but to ask more may be just wishful thinking.

I'm surprised with such negative reviews here. In a time where we are bombarded with so-called reality TV I find this one woman show has put the "real" in reality TV. Carrie Fisher covers her life from the beginning through current times leaving nothing to the imagination. This is certainly not a perfect world and she shows us her faults as well as those who have been a part of life. Given how far her family tree reaches into the world of celebrity it's amazing she has any scope of the real world. The show is at times sad as well as unbelievable. I didn't find it to be cruel, rude or obnoxious in any way. What is here is her life story filled with good times and bad, as all of us have, though hers has been in the public eye. Ms Fisher purposefully gives us plenty of under and overtones of comedy, be it tragic or all out slapstick. An enjoyable show to say the least.