Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
ChicRawIdol
A brilliant film that helped define a genre
GarnettTeenage
The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
The Couchpotatoes
As a number one fan of George Carlin I might be a bit biased with my review as I absolutely love everything he does and says. It's one of those people I would have loved spending an evening with, talking about life, the world, and everything that goes wrong on this planet. When I hear him talking it's like he's reading my mind. I'm sure he was not a great optimist, and why would he when you see how society works? George Carlin has his unique way to bring you his vision on everything and this in a funny sarcastic way. George Carlin is the rebel in stand up comedy, a rebel tout court. If you think like him you will love his shows, if you don't think like him and think the whole world is just a nice little place then you probably won't get it, and you won't get the humor either. Life Is Worth Losing is sarcastic, dark and straight to your face. Rest in peace George, you were the best!
Michael_Elliott
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing (2005) *** 1/2 (out of 4)George Carlin's thirteenth special for HBO ranks as one of his best but, then again, was he ever not great? This time out he tackles humans and how ugly and stupid they really are. This includes suicide, torture, sleeping with dead things and in one of the funniest bits he goes off on seeing obese people together.It's funny watching this eleven years after it was released and seeing just how brilliant Carlin was. The legend would die three years after this was released so he didn't get to see the current human nature and there's a priceless joke here about PC liberals that is just so more truer today then when he said it. Not to mention the obesity rates in America.Carlin comes out on fire with one of the fastest monologues that you're ever going to hear. It's amazing to see how rapid-fire Carlin is saying this stuff yet he is never off note or missing a step. The show itself is full of one great joke after another. I've always thought Carlin's humor worked so best because it was a thinking man's show. In other words, Carlin gets humor out of his deep thoughts on his subjects and he fully exploits that here.I'm not going to ruin any of the jokes because you should go into the show not knowing them but there are many classics here.
Isaac5855
George Carlin remains the King of HBO comedy and refuses to relinquish his crown with GEORGE CARLIN: LIFE IS WORTH LOSING. Carlin continues to be the master observer of all that is good and evil and twisted in the world. He opened this set with an extremely long poem about himself, utilizing every pop-cliché that we have become accustomed to hearing these days and has a way of making most of these clichés sound banal and silly. Carlin also does something in this special that I liked that he rarely does: he referenced a joke from an earlier concert because he got mail from people who didn't understand it and chose to explain it here. You don't see that often. This show, like all of Carlin's shows, is scathingly accurate and roll-on-the-floor funny, but this one seems to have a darker theme floating over it than most of his shows. The majority of the material seems to be centered around subjects like death, dying, suicide, murder, and other cheery topics, yet, as always when watching George, I found myself laughing my ass off and agreeing with everything he says because after all these years of pushing the comedic envelope, one constant that has never changed with George is that everything he says is absolutely correct.
michael_the_nermal
As someone who's seen a couple of George Carlin shows and thought them hilarious, this stand-up special was utterly dismal. I admire George Carlin's attempts at misanthropic social commentary and humor, but this show was way too heavy on misanthropy and almost empty on humor. Carlin does not make any jokes or punchlines at all, nor does he attempt to make any humorous statement in what can only be called an ugly and hateful rant. His waxes rhapsodic about suicide rates and sexual perversions, but only describes them, with no attempt to make jokes about them or connect these morbid topics with the audience, much less himself. In order to be funny, he would have to connect his topics with a joke, or at least make some flippant remark that the audience could find ironic or cheeky. Good satire looks for irony in their topics, and Carlin just describes his topics without connecting them to the greater sphere of the human experience, with the irony serving to make the comment humorous. Carlin doesn't try at all to be funny; he just harangues and blathers on. Carlin's laziness is apparent and frankly insulting; misanthropy is a wonderful topic for a humorist to focus on, but in order to be entertaining, it must be FUNNY! That is why misanthropes like Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain are still read and beloved today. Carlin's rants have no point other than to vent his frustrations and shock his audience. It is pathetic and saddening, as Carlin now appears to be in the twilight of his career. This is an inauspicious end for one of the best humorists of the twentieth century. I hope Carlin will work harder to be funny the next time around.