72
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Film ThreatK.J. DoughtonFilm ThreatK.J. DoughtonCheck out The Life of Reilly, for a real-life example of carpe diem energy too pure and unrefined to be silenced by discrimination or negative family vibes.
- 80VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonWith equal measures of prickly wit, gleeful pride and bemused gratitude, Charles Nelson Reilly looks back at his life, and invites his audience to share the view, in this thoroughly engaging filmization of his one-man stage show.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurraySpellbinding.
- 75New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickBest remembered as the most flamboyant of TV's original "Hollywood Squares" - which is really saying something on a panel that included Paul Lynde.
- 75TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghBy the time Reilly's shaggy life story winds down, it's hard not to wish he'd been your friend, too.
- 75New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanIf you think of Reilly as little more than a camp icon, you've got a lot to learn.
- 70L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyThere are the stories of his racist mom, lobotomized aunt, and a TV exec who told him he’d never find work as a homosexual -- and the more charming tale of his Uta Hagen acting class, which yielded nothing but future A-listers (Steve McQueen, Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon and Anne Meara, to name a few).
- 70SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirCharles Nelson Reilly is still alive, dammit, and boy does he have a story to tell.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOccasionally you see a documentary and it hits you how much you don’t know about someone who was part of your mental landscape.
- Built around “Save It for the Stage,” a one-man stage show by Charles Nelson Reilly, a showbiz gadfly and Tony Award-winning theater director.