I just watched “Steve!”, Morgan Neville’s two-part documentary on Apple TV+ about Steve Martin.
The first half was full of fascinating stories he already revealed in his autobiography, “Born Standing Up.” From how he started in showbiz as a magician, then took to the stage as a standup, worked out routines, got a big boost from “SNL,” and eventually built himself into the biggest thing in comedy (no one had ever played 15,000-seat basketball arenas before), before leaving standup behind to concentrate on making movies.
It’s a great rags-to-riches story, with heartbreaking details about the verbal abuse he endured from his father, who never appreciated Martin’s work.
Unfortunately, the second half of “Steve!” was remarkably boring. I say that as someone who attended one of Martin’s arena shows in the late 1970s, when his album “Let’s Get Small” was in every college student’s collection and his appearances on both Johnny Carson’s and David Letterman’s show were Must See TV.
But, you know a documentary is in trouble when it includes scenes of its subject making poached eggs for breakfast. Or dropping off shirts at the dry cleaner. Who wants to see someone this famous and funny doing domestic chores like the rest of us?
Perhaps director Morgan Neville had to lean in that direction because so much of Martin’s movie output since his run of hits in the seventies and eighties has been so lame. Can you name a decent film he’s made this century that’s not named “Shopgirl?” That’s likely why Neville didn’t include clips from or anecdotes about Martin’s stinkers (e.g. “Sgt. Bilko,” two unnecessary “Pink Panther” movies, “Father Of The Bride” and its sequel).
Sure, Martin has found success again with “Only Murders In The Building” and his touring show with Martin Short, and it was nice to learn some things about his art collection and family life, but part two of “Steve!” elicited more yawns than smiles from me.
Quite a disappointment.