George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing

2005 "Some look at life on the bright side. He prefers the grave side."
8.2| 1h14m| en| More Info
Released: 05 November 2005 Released
Producted By: Cable Stuff Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.georgecarlin.com
Synopsis

Carlin returns to the stage in his 13th live comedy stand-up special, performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City for HBO®. His spot-on observations on the deterioration of human behavior include Americans’ obsession with their two favorite addictions - shopping and eating; his creative idea for The All-Suicide Channel, a new reality TV network; and the glorious rebirth of the planet to its original pristine condition - once the fires and floods destroy life as we know it.

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Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
dornis We had a gasoline shortage in 2000 and in August of 2006 and now we have yet another gasoline problem. I predict that we will soon be paying $5 per gallon and everything will become prohibitively expensive.People, if you own a bicycle, take care. Lock it in your garage with the front wheel removed. You may have to use it to go to work. If a couple owns a business, look for a bicycle built for two.In the meantime, the solution is TRICYCLES, for those of us who never learned to ride a two-wheeler. Tricycles don't use gas. Four of them can fit into a parking space. The effort required to pedal it would cause people to lose weight and build muscle. Think how this would benefit marriages. Couples on the verge of divorce would reunite; they would see less of each other, thereby eliminating some of the reasons for arguments. It's hard to engage in adultery since a tricycle doesn't have a back seat.The children, taken care of by a stay-at-home mother, would have to learn all the games we played as children to keep ourselves amused. We played Tag, Ring A Leeveeo, Statues, Simon Says, Touch Football, Stick Ball, Jacks, etc., which prevented the childhood obesity which is so prevalent today.Renee Sinrod, Clearwater, Florida
joannmarie-1 My husband and I are long time fans of George Carlin. This was a George Carlin that I had never seen in stand-up and I hope I never see again. His non-funny diatribe about human depravity and his crude discussion of human fragility was unsettling and I found it difficult to believe anyone in the audience was laughing. George is certainly one of the brightest comedians around and most of what he discussed resides in truth. But the old George could take that truth and make it funny. We did not find any of this act funny - only dark and depressing. George offered a view of the future without hope and although his view may be correct, I would prefer to hold out for a tab bit of hope. Either George goes back to pot before his next stand-up or I shall have to take it up to tolerate his new very dark attempts at humor. For god sake, lighten up George!
MovieAddict2016 Many people on both this site and Amazon have claimed that "Life is Worth Losing" is George Carlin's worst comedy performance. One reviewer claims he has simply turned into a bitter misanthrope - but I don't think that's very fair. I thought "Life is Worth Losing" was indeed one of Carlin's harshest acts, but it was also very funny.His opening, "Modern Man," is a four-minute mind-bending string of words (similar to the opening of "Complaints and Grievances") which is hilarious and almost unbelievable - whoever hears this and thinks Carlin is "losing it" must be kidding! After this he begins dissecting American life and basically thrashing about the people of our nation with his words - labeling Americans as fat, mall-loving idiots. And some might be offended by this, but that's why he's George Carlin.Carlin may be getting older but I really fail to see how he's "falling apart" as a comedian here - I thought it was a great show and although it's his most bitter act I've heard, a lot of it is also totally true.
MisterWhiplash I don't know what it was, maybe it was going through some of his own trials and tribulations (addiction and rehab), but George Carlin seems to be, well, different this time around. In a way I should've expected this- I remember reading a couple of years back when he was planning the special that it would be more based around language (if nothing else he is the single greatest linguist in the history of post-modern stand-up), and on that level the special isn't a disappointment. There are three things, however, that make the film not necessarily bad or over-wrought, but just, well, different, like a musician or band we all know through and through trying a little something new. This time, with Life is Worth Losing, there is a lot more philosophy in some ways, and also a little bit of loss in some of the timing for a few good laughs.The first thing is that his delivery is a little different; usually it'll seem like he'll go for his three topics (the little things in life 'Seinfeld' style, words and expressions, and the "big" world), but much of the special this time is with a delivery that doesn't (at least some of the time, maybe not for the most part maybe so) have that much of the same strange skepticism. The second thing is that he changes the structure around one base topic, suicide, and one wonders if this will be for the entire length or if there will be a switch to another topic or not. There's variations on the theme, sometimes it spreads out into the gripes of America, and it's always fascinating, but maybe not as hilarious as one might expect (sometimes it's more like ironic musings than full-our jokes). The third thing is that at times he is so into giving a lyrical, sometimes even poetic kind of rhythm to his bits and terms in his linguist way (the first five minutes of the special a great warm-up, is a keeper) that might throw people off. In a way he is even angrier than he was in what I think is one of his very best specials, You Are All Diseased, because this time his anger is loaded at present day subjects which are, quite frankly, infuriating.As some might come to think, I might be saying all this to shadow over thinking that the special just wasn't as funny as his best stuff. It's not necessarily that. At times I was in the same practically non-stop laughs at a few minutes a clip. As a Carlin fan all these rants that end up not leading to the same kinds of routines and such is in a way refreshing even as it is a little odd. At times I almost wondered if he was returning to a little of the spirit of his act back in the 70's mixed with his now usual brand of old-man brilliant wit and observance of all things in the world. He even seems to be going past just plain old cynicism. There is so much truth in the special at times it's kind of staggering. And to see that in such abundance and forming out into such tangents reminds me why I keep coming back to his best stuff. I'm just not sure after seeing this right off the bat that it's him at his total best, it's almost as if he's in a transition now into a totally new part of his career. Still, it's worth it to hear some of his classic takes of end of the world scenarios, the 'fat' situation in the US, and things involving suicide TV. And those last fifteen minutes are very poignant.