American: The Bill Hicks Story

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A mostly-engaging portrait of a controversial hard-living comedian who died too soon, "American: The Bill Hicks Story" is an interesting film that offers a glimpse of the outlaw comedian that many of us may not remember, but should.

Hicks was a comedian living in Houston, Texas, struggling as all comedians do, but found stardom and soon was appearing on The Tonight Show and Rodney Dangerfield's legendary comedy special on HBO in the 80s, as well as to packed houses around the country.

"American" chronicles Hicks' ascent and descent into booze and drugs, which both amplified his comedy and quashed it, and his death at the hands of cancer at age 32.

It's toward the end perhaps when the film is most interesting, as he struggles with his disease while pressing on in his career, knowing he's near the end, but still focusing on making people laugh.

The film is told by 10 friends and relatives, mostly through old video clips and simplistic animations cobbled together from old photos. There's very little if any direct interview type portions, and stories are told in the context of the animation gimmick. This works at times, but gets tired toward the end. Though many of them are fun and inventive, the animations are cutesy, and stretched over a full-length feature it gets a little too much so.

I'm also not the biggest fan of repeating footage in docs, a tactic "American" employs a few times, splicing the same 4-5 seconds of footage in different spots in the film.

Still, "American" does a great job of delving into Hicks' style of comedy, where he takes on issues like religion, government and media with purpose and a distinct message that, today as much as ever still resonates.

"American" provides unique insight about living the comedy club lifestyle and all of the pitfalls and pratfalls of living the showbiz life, and how living your dream can also be a living nightmare.