Critic Reviews

For the charming but skin-deep documentary When Comedy Went to School, filmmakers Mevlut Akkaya and Ron Frank gained enviable access to pioneer stars of Borscht Belt standup.

Does not quite make the grade. For every great joke, hilarious anecdote, and keen insight, there are cringe-worthy dramatizations, narrative groaners.

Think you know all about comedy? This thorough, funny and thoroughly funny chronicle of the Catskills Mountains resorts — that is, the Borscht belt — will still teach you a thing or two.

Ron Frank and Melvut Akkaya’s docu isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but as a brief history of the Catskill resorts, liberally laced with well-edited archival promos, songs, homemovies and extended excerpts from routines by Jewish comics who performed there, it consistently entertains.

For a disorganized film that has trouble deciding what it's about, When Comedy Went to School can be a lot of fun.

It confuses nostalgia for earth-shaking cultural upheaval, never really expounding on the actual effect of the Borscht Belt circuit's influence.

Fortunately for the filmmakers, most of the comedians interviewed here — Jerry Stiller, Jackie Mason, Jerry Lewis and many other (mostly male) voices — provide lighthearted remembrances to elevate this poorly executed documentary.

Superficial and hokey yet still oddly endearing.

As a grab bag of reminiscences by veteran funny people, bolstered with richly entertaining performance footage, it's boffo.

The movie doesn’t offer much more than fleeting and superficial pleasures.