Fans of comedy will enjoy this deep dive into the life and work of stand-up performer Maria Bamford — the Duluth, Minnesota native with a little-girl voice who has an unearthly ability to conjure up an assortment of characters — including her mother, patronizing TV pitch-ladies and a pterodactyl.
At the same time, she’s struggled since childhood with mental health issues, and has incorporated her story into her stand-up routines and videos, sometimes with her family as collaborators. The results can be hilarious, bittersweet and uncomfortable all at once.
The documentary, in the Premieres program, directed by Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley, surveys Bamford from her earliest appearances — a scruffy brunette with a violin — to wider public success as one of the Comedians of Comedy and the manic Target Lady in a series of ads. (The film reveals that she felt guilty about the latter.)
The film turns melancholy covering recent years. Her parents pass away, and at her home in Altadena, California, Bambord and her neighbors are singed by the 2025 conflagration. But she’s still a compulsive performer — even practicing her latest set for an audience of one at a sidewalk table!
On the KPCW sun rating system, "“Paralyzed By Hope: The Maria Bamford Story” receives three-and-a-half suns out of five.
