The Last Laugh

For the most part, the breadth of its examination of the subject is welcome, and by the end, it ends up feeling like as definitive a film on comedy and the Holocaust as you could ever want.

Pearlstein’s very deft assembly manages to raise all these ideas and others for viewer consideration while underlining that there are few, if any, definitive responses to them.

There is no uniform answer to whether a joke is funny or not, but Pearlstein has done a superlative job of exploring the reasons for why that is.

An entertaining and thought-provoking film, The Last Laugh presents multiple perspectives on taboo humor without passing judgment.

[Offers] plenty of laughs in its thoughtful examination of the issue.

At a time when many of us look to comedy to keep us sane, the question is especially pertinent, although the answers here aren’t especially penetrating.

Some will be disappointed by the lack of firm conclusions in this film, but if it reveals anything, it’s the intensely personal nature of what people find funny.