Conan O'Brien Can't Stop 2011

Stephen Holden, New York Times: If "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" is consistently watchable, it isn't especially funny, nor does it give any deeper insight into its star than you might get from seeing his late-night shows. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: It's an equally insightful and excruciating journey, with our quip-ready protagonist perpetually caught between two modes: eager-to-please caffeinated and near-breakdown frustrated. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The overall mood of Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is curdled and sour. It leaves the feeling that the next chapter can't come soon enough. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who banked millions for not hosting "The Tonight Show" anymore, but it's also fascinating to see a man this compulsively driven to get back in front of people and tell jokes, to hear the laughter, to soak in the applause. Read more

Frazier Moore, Associated Press: Simply an engaging, breathless road-trip portrait. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: There are solid laughs and meta-laughs to be had in "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop,'' but the movie is most worthwhile as a portrait of a celebrity in mid-hissy fit. A creative, self-aware hissy fit, but still. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Everyone laughs at the boss's jokes, which are incessant to the point of irritation, but actual levity is in short supply. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The whole thing becomes a sort of "Song of Myself" for needy multimillionaire comics at work and play. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: In the aptly titled Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, we witness a performance addict with something to prove. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Meta-irony can get a guy who's still grinding an ax only so far. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Forget talk shows; Coco should keep touring and making films like this. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: An unexpectedly revealing, disconcerting documentary that benefits from the filmmaker's unmediated approach, his home-movie- quality visual style, and his controlled use of on-the-fly moments. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Conan O'Brien should take some satisfaction in the thought that Jay Leno will never earn as much laughter in half an hour as he and his crew does in the first third of Conan O'Brien Can't Stop. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The film, like the tour, will satisfy the Conan cravings of hardcore fans the most, and prove an enjoyable enough diversion for the rest. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: O'Brien admits he ended this moment in his life knowing himself a little better. We feel the same way. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: Just as he promised, amazing things happen. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Full of unenlightening snippets and blithe but banal asides, what the movie is missing is edge. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: It's nice to know that the son of a lawyer and a microbiologist can get into Harvard and make something of himself. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Substantially more than a vanity project if less than a three-dimensional portrait of the human stick figure with the shock of orangey hair. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What we are seeing is a man determined to vindicate himself after a public humiliation. People attend his shows, cheer him, like him. That proves something, doesn't it? Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: If the principal audience for "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" is obviously the comedian's legions of fans, it's probably most interesting as a detached study of the workings of fame. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Seeing his life from the inside, the impulse to judge him fades. You would not want to trade places. Read more

Neal Justin, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The documentary makes the case that O'Brien is too passionate, too complex, too driven to simply snap out of it. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A serviceable behind-the-scenes tour documentary with about as much insight as a talk-show monologue. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: While a lot of geography is covered, as a concert film, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is decidedly thin entertainment. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It's ... entertaining, not to mention revealing about the emotional toll exacted upon people who, in O'Brien's words, "feed their bone marrow to the wood chipper that is television." Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: The biggest laughs and most intriguing revelations are provided offstage in this slickly produced documentary Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: As protective of his persona as he's proven to be, any time he goes out of his way to insist that he's "keeping it real" scans as suspicious. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Partly about the making of the stage show and partly about the anger and compulsion underlying the making of it, the movie is often very funny. And when it's not, it's revelatory. Read more