Watching this again in 2017 I remember hearing oh ..JP is retiring etc. I have had so many laughs watching this movie. What a stunt. The scene with P. Diddy and the awkwardness is pure 100 % comedy gold. I don't see how they kept a straight face filming. The " fight " with the crowd...awesome. They must have had a lot of fun. I am sure Andy Kaufman would have approved of this 100 % I don't understand the bad reviews, but thank goodness Netflix is hosting it. Kudos to all involved in the " project"

Remember that time when everyone thought that Joaquin Phoenix went AWOL from acting and became a rapper? Remember when everyone thought he went nuts because of his bizarre appearance on Letterman? Well, it was all a set up for a mockumentary... and it's one of the worst ones of all time. This is a pretentious, garbled, unfunny mess. The fiction is far less entertaining than what we thought was reality. He thought he was the next Andy Kaufman, as did many. But by the section of the film that featured the Letterman interview, I only wished that Jerry Lawler came out on to the stage and smacked Joaquin off of his chair. I'm a lover of all kinds of cinema, but I can't stand the self aggrandizement of the Hollywood celebrity. Some of these people just live in total fantasy.

Warning – this review contains major spoilers – please do not read on if you do not wish to made aware of a key aspect of the film.I find it hard to believe that this movie has not been rated more highly by both IMDb users and the critics of the time.I deliberately entitled this review The JP Method - it is one of the most well produced examples of method acting ever captured.Joaquin Phoenix inhabited an obnoxious caricature of himself for two years whilst making this movie both in public and in private. His performance was so good that he managed to fool many people into thinking that he was having a very public meltdown.Yes there were a few cast members that were made aware of the movie's intentions, but it would not have succeeded without these people.My rating is based more on this impressive, sustained piece of method acting than on the movie itself, as I believe it's a fairly unique achievement.The proof of success is that the only award the film received was a "Documentary" award from the Venice Film Festival. Surely that is the greatest recognition of this method acting that it fooled people who make a living within the movie industry.Even if you ignored my early warning and have not yet seen the movie, if you are interested in acting and cinema, I would still recommend that you watch. I myself was already aware of the facts behind the movie before I sat down for a viewing and possibly found it all the more fascinating as a result.I find it astonishing that a recognised actor would risk playing a part like this which required such real life public humiliation.

My goal was to avoid this movie. I even imagined spending my entire 15 minutes of fame advertising this fact. It was the only way I could possibly maximize Joaquin Phoenix's chances of hearing about my protest. Much too lazy and impatient to wait for my spotlight, however, I finally gave in and watched it last night.The movie features actors, playing roles. A joke is implied. I didn't end up getting it. This made me feel the joke was on me. I didn't like that feeling, which is not to say I can't laugh at myself. But in order for me to join in my own deprecation, I need to understand the gag. This realization didn't sit well with me. Afterward, a few things occur in the movie that may or may not be scripted. Then credits mentioning a host of important friends roll, signifying the end.It's a vehicle, about which only one thing need be said: see summary.