If a documentary ever did what it said on the tin, Remembering Gene Wilder would be it. A pleasant overview of Gene Wilder's life and career with interviews with his frequent collaborator Mel Brooks (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein), Wilder's wife at the time of his death from Alzheimer's in 2016, Karen Wilder, Alan Alda, Carol Kane, Harry Connick Jr., Mike Medavoy, Rain Pryor (Richard's daughter), TCM host Ben Mankiewicz, and more, it fairly rotely runs down his life and career from while downplaying how his career continued despite minimal marketability for another decade after its peak.
It had occurred to me some time ago that for someone who was so lauded, his window of top work only ran just over a decade from The Producers in 1967 through 1980's Stir Crazy with his later works forgotten when he was in classics like Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and his Mel Brooks collaborations before moving on to teaming with Richard Pryor frequently even as Pryor's health declined due to MS.
While a lot of it was fairly familiar stuff even though I'm not a big fan, I was genuinely surprised at some of the details in his career like how his break came from co-starring in a short-lived Broadway play with Anne Bancroft and making the acquaintance of her then-boyfriend Mel Brooks. I'd always thought Young Frankenstein was strictly a Brooks joint, but Wilder actually created the premise and written a script then brought Brooks in. The real doozy of a story is how Carol Kane had received a Best Actress Oscar nomination - no, I'm not kidding! - and then didn't work for a year, but Wilder somehow saw a talent for comedy that no one else had noticed, casting her in his second directorial effort, The World's Greatest Lover.
Luck seemed to smile upon him personally as well leading to his marriage to Gilda Radner after meeting filming Hanky Panky and his last wife while researching playing a deaf character in See No Evil, Hear No Evil.
Overall, Remembering Gene Wilder is a pleasant overview of a beloved performer's life and career. Whether you're a fan or a neophyte regarding his work, there's something to enjoy. It's just not super special in its execution.
Score: 6/10. Catch it on cable/streaming. (Currently on Netflix)
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