If you're looking for material about Bill Hicks, this is a place to start. If you're acquainted with his work, this might be your collector's album about his life. None of the background has been omitted: the highs and the lows supported by lots of previously unreleased footage.The interviews with Bill's family revealed how much love and affection he received from them. In my opinion, this environment along with his talent and experience led him to become one of the best stand-up comedians of all times.I found it great how this movie has been made as a mixture of archive footage and simple animation with voice-over of the interviewees. However, i felt that his approach might turn-off the average viewer, as well.

To the people in the know, Bill Hicks is revered as one of the greats. I must admit I wasn't all that familiar with his work before seeing this documentary. I may have seen the odd snippet here and there, maybe even caught part of the odd TV appearance when getting back late from the pub, but this is the first time I've actually sat down and watched any his work properly. You'll be pleased to know you've got a convert right here! I can see why he was so successful over here in the UK; his style of humour is just the kind of thing we love. But I digress, here's a bit about the film.We are told the story of Bill Hicks right from birth until his death, tragically young, only 32 years later. It's quite fascinating how he started out as a teenager with his friend Dwight Slade, and how they'd sneak out of the house to go and play gigs at a local comedy club. He gains some success and ends up solo when Dwight has to move away and we follow his career through alcoholism, drug abuse and back again. It's only when he cleaned up that he had his greatest successes though. Sadly he never really made it really big in his home country during his lifetime, but he left us with some truly memorable and thought-provoking comedy… In my book, a genius.Rather than just having lots of talking heads in between scenes of Bill on stage, the filmmakers used some photo-animation to illustrate certain parts of the story. This worked very well and served to keep the audience interested in the narrative. Many of his friends and family contribute to the story, which gives this version of events a lot of credence. I found I was not only intrigued by his life story, but also by his comedy. I will certainly be looking at more of the work of Bill Hicks… Recommended.My Score: 8.2/10.IMDb Score: 7.9/10 (based on 1,716 votes at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82/100 (based on 55 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Namaste, Venakam, Salaam Alaikum, Sat Sri Akal.Bill Hicks' comedy has been a godsend in my personal life. Being a native of the Balkan region of former Yugoslavia trying to acclimate to American society without acculturating and losing my identity, his work was invaluable. He has said the things that most people don't even acknowledge or think about.Bill hicks was an amazing artist and human being on many levels. In particular, on a spiritual and philosophical level, he is easily the most relevant and profound comedian of all time. No other individual has managed to take the unpalatable truths of "modern society" and deliver them with the intellectual poise, sincerity and utter hilarity of Bill Hicks.He is in our hearts and minds for all eternity, and its a joy to have known his eternal individual nature through his recordings.May we meet again in the cosmic energy pool of eternity.Peace, Love & Light, Almir "It's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one." William Melvin "Bill" Hicks

I believe all George Carlin fans will come out of the theater after watching this documentary feeling they also lost a son.Comedy itself lost another true hero. Specially nowadays where nothing seems to make any sense in the world, except for the fact that all the ones who dare to understand this humongous, hypocritical world we all live in, suddenly, out of the blue, they all leave.The documentary is somewhat superficial, nonetheless, very important, because it shows how everything started for Bill Hicks, and there is great archive footage of his early stand-ups. It also makes one feel very interested particularly in his great come back moment, after he gave up drugs and alcohol, and as far as what made him become the Bill Hicks that conquered the UK unfortunately little was said about this period in the movie.The final scenes are Hicks' best moments. And after the late George Carlin there was nobody else who could have filled his shoes and enlightened audiences with greater political insights such as Bill.So, a must see, but not as informative, nor as edgy as it could have been.My vote is 8