Pee-wee as Himself

Whatever can be said about Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman), the best explanation of who he really was resides in this excellent new Max two-part documentary "Pee-wee as Himself." Essentially, this is Paul Reubens interviewing himself, unfolding his deeply personal and often lonely life and his hard fought and spectacular rise to fame from the ground up.

But then came his controversial arrest in Florida, and later, a dubious investigation in California, both having the net effect of killing his career. In a sometimes homophonic and politically-driven society, Reubens certainly had the deck stacked against him.

Reubens publicly "outs" himself in this documentary, something he could not safely bring himself to do throughout his personal and professional life. He likely felt at this point in his storied career he had nothing to lose.

Ironically, the filmmakers and even many of Reuben's closest friends had no idea that he was quietly fighting cancer. Paul, of course, knew, and he wanted to make sure his self revealing documentary would be shown after his death. For various reasons (explained in the documentary), it would not air until May 23, 2025.

Reubens passed away July 30, 2023 at age 70.

Growing up in the 80s was fun, cartoon's on Saturday morning and Pee-week's playhouse what some people would say about Pee Wee would mean nothing because I know he bought joy to me as a kid. This documentary shows the real person he was and shown his passion for Pee Wee as a character. People say show your love and I truly believe Paul had his heart on his shoulder. When I heard he passed away I did cry and hearing his last word on this series broke my heart but in this series only shows his heart if you grew up in the 80s this is a must see even if you didn't grow up in the 80s 90s and love Pee Wee I would recommend watching this.

It's challenging trying to explain the huge appeal of Peewee Herman to those who never saw him or didn't get it. A unique blend of irony, sincerity, nostalgia and quirky charisma, Paul Reubens created his man-child character based on the 50's kids TV he loved in boyhood - and succeeded brilliantly.

In part one, director Matt Wolves delves into young Paul's obsession with performance and fame - and how he reached it. Along the way, though, Paul sets aside his personal life and a loving gay relationship to focus on his career. His reward is graduating from the Groundlings improv to regular appearances on Letterman and the Tonight Show - and ultimately a hit Hollywood movie.

As revealed in candid interviews, Reubens' hunger for fame was so great that he became jealous over credit given to director Tim Burton for the success of Peewee's Big Adventure - he did not want to share it.

Part II looks at the dark challenges in his life. These included a career-hobbling arrest in a Florida sex shop and a later witch-hunting investigation by the LAPD - with groundless news leaks about pedophilia. What is amazing is watching the resilience of Reubens and his supportive close friends, his family - and many fans.

Tragically, we also learn that the secretive Reubens suffered with cancer for six years before his death - which he kept from the film team telling his story.

The film's later chapters also touch on the irony of a performer accustomed to final-cut control on his projects fencing with the director telling his life story. It leads to revealing and sometimes awkward exchanges.

In total it's a compelling rise and fall and rise again life story that ended far too early.

There's an astonishing honesty about this documentary that Pee-wee admits: Few of us get to make a final statement about their lives. The filmmakers were unaware that Paul Ruebens was battling cancer for several years before they made the film. In fact, Paul padded away a few months after it was completed. Like Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, a person facing death finds honest self-revelation easier than a person still protecting their identity and public image. Through out the film, Paul Ruebens consistently reveals that he finds it difficult to separate his alter-ego Pee-wee from the person Paul. When he gets a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, he notes that it was Pee-wee whose name is on the star, not Paul's. There are many revelations about Pee-wee's creative process including how the storyline of Pee-we's Big Adventure came about. While he and writer-director Tim Burton were developing the screenplay on the Warner Brothers studio, he saw many actors riding the lot of bicycles, so he asked: How do I get a bicycle? The next day, a 1950s era Schwinn DX showed up outside his office. Pee-wee ran into the office and told Burton he knew the plot would center on Pee-wee's love for that bicycle, how it would be stolen and how his adventure would be getting to back. It's a beautiful film about a child-like actor who mixed his fantasies with life's realities.

If you watched this as a kid (or maybe even didn't), this will put a smile on your face and make your day. I'm so glad he did all of this work before he passed. It is so much better that he leads the journey, as only he and his expressions can. His PeeWee character and humor are one thing, but the real Paul Rubens is a very charismatic man and I think most people don't realize that. It would have been awesome to have experienced The Groundlings troop in LA in their heyday.

The archival footage is fantastic, the editing is great, the music choices are on point and it details the extraordinary story of a social sensation exactly as it should.

I dare you not to smile as you watch it.