I grew up looking forward to my weekends so that I could watch another Jerry Lewis film at the local movie theatre which always carried three (3) feature matinees comprised of a western film starring either John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, an adventure or music film which starred either Tarzan or Elvis and of course a comedy film that starred either Jerry Lewis or Abbott and Costello.

What I have is nothing but such fond memories of the Jerry Lewis comedies that kept me entertained and glued to my seat as he went from one silly character to another silly character. The colorization technology was emerging and Jerry's dark blue hair was a reminder of another feature film star named Elvis Presley. For a young lad as myself I much preferred Jerry's slapstick brand of comedy to the other genre's of the 1960's and 1970's.

So it is with much regret that I was subjected to the documentary (vanity project) film Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis. Jerry, why did you think you had to produce such a self serving and narcissism based film about yourself while proceeding into your 80's? What a bunch of hooey Jerry. Was there not people in your life that you looked up to that you could have referred to with humility and abstain from trying to embarrass them? Your fall out with Dean Martin is well documented and you reflect on your relationship as nothing but loving, and it would appear (from your point of view) that the break up was all Dean's fault. Again I say, what a bunch of hooey Jerry.

You may not realize it yet Jerry but your true genius is now overshadowed by your own narcissism and what you think your fans want to remember you for. I believe that had you allowed an independent producer produce your biography your millions of fans would have been provided with the true person Jerry Lewis really is. A movie star who married twice, lived a full life starring in film, producing and directing film, while raising a large family and hosting a charity telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for decades. I hope one day to see another independent biography that explains who Jerry Lewis really was, the good, the bad, and the challenged life of Jerry Lewis.

A self serving epitaph from an 80 year old movie star was not what I was expecting from the loving and funny Jerry Lewis that has kept me entertained for the past five decades. Jerry, I own almost all of your movies and have also repurchased them in high definition Blu Ray format because you mean so much to me personally and the happy childhood memories you provided to myself and my young friends who eagerly paid our weekly allowances to view you in Technicolor.

I believe there is some humility in the real Jerry Lewis, so if you are ever in Toronto Canada and wish to share some of your personal challenges with one of your truest and loyal fans, please, please, please feel free to contact me and my wife and I will ensure you have a nice dinner and a quiet place to reveal who Jerry Lewis really is and what made him tick these past 80 plus years. I would much prefer not to be left with the image of Jerry Lewis in this biography, as I know the real Jerry Lewis gave a lot more to his fans, family, friends and to discovering the cure for Muscular Dystrophy than what we saw in Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis.

With much love and unfortunately much regret, I rate this film a 4 out of 10. Jerry, if you do accept my invitation to come to Toronto and tell us about ALL your life experiences (the good, the bad and the real challenges) you will need to leave your ego at the door, as our entrance way is only 3 feet wide, not 3 miles long.

Your loyal fan Ed Shullivan.

Jerry Lewis can Thank two things for His successful Career, Ego and Talent. Mostly Ego, because the Talent would Never had the Limitless Exposure without that Enormous Ego driving the Non-Stop Juggernaut that was Jerry Lewis.

Never Tiring, always doing more and more, Stretching the Limits of Human Endurance, He always was Seeking, Experimenting, and Forever "On-Stage".

In this Vanity Piece, He once again is, at age 80+, still on that Stage of Self Aggrandizement and with the Help of Friends and Admirers He rides the Accolades like a Never-Aging Surfer forever trying to Look Young, Glowing, and "With It". Mostly He succeeds.

One tends to want to Look Away from the Screen at times when Lewis, shown at one of His Touring Live Shows, because watching someone You admire Endlessly Talking about how "Great I am" is Embarrassing. The Truth that Lewis never seemed to Understand is none of that is Necessary. The Work Speaks for itself, but Jerry can't help but Speak about Himself, always in Glowing Terms.

Anyway, if You discount most of the "Live" Footage of Jerry Lewis talking about Jerry Lewis Endlessly, the rest of the Documentary contains some Rare Stuff and has some good Movie Clips and it makes the Two Hour Show Worth a Watch.

Just be Prepared for some Cringing. Come to Think about it. Most of Jerry's Work contains perhaps an Equal Amount of Funny Entertainment and Cringe Inducements.

According to his various celebrity fans whose adulatory comments proliferate this (auto)biographical documentary, Jerry Lewis is apparently on the same level of comedic genius as Chaplin or Keaton. Unsurprisingly most if not all of his acolytes are American, including the likes of Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal and Jerry Seinfeld to name but three, but perhaps not being American and missing out on the attendant comic books, cartoon shows, TV specials and telethons which kept him in the public eye Stateside, I don't think his star is considered quite as bright here in Britain. Me, I don't see him as being too much above Lou Costello or Britain's Norman Wisdom in comedic terms and the more his super-fans praised him up, the more resistant I found myself to agreeing with them.

Mind you, there's a bigger Lewis fan here than all of his celebrity friends put together and that's Lewis himself. Jerry tells one apocryphal-sounding story after another about how he saved Paramount Movies from extinction in the 60's, analysing his own "genius" (my quotation marks) and generally having us believe that he was a wonderful, kind, generous man from first to last who knew every member of his cast and crew by name. Note to self, Jerry, there's no honour in self-praise and for good measure he constantly name drops, boasting about his supposed influence on Spielberg, Lucas and Scorcese, even as I have to admit the first of the three is fulsome in his on-screen praise of Lewis here.

All that said, there are some lovely comic sequences from his movies but hyperbole still gets in the way - at one point an admirer swoons about Jerry making a car act funny, which the clip just doesn't back up. Of course in this revisionist story, Jerry and Dean amicably broke up and never stopped loving each other, their reunion at the behest of Frank Sinatra during a 1976 Lewis telethon is especially embarrassing with Martin so smashed drunk, he could have been making up with Jerry Lee Lewis and not notice.

Interspersing the story with snippets from a live Lewis in-person modern-day variety performance only shows that cinema was his best medium, although it hardly seems to matter to his sycophantic fans.

I get that Lewis was a big deal in the States and yes, in France too if it means that much to him, but this two hour long special, significantly co-produced by its star lacked a necessary distance and critical point of view and in the end seemed like one long version of "For I'm a jolly good fellow".