I’m a fan of standup and I find myself drawn to female comics who use wit rather than anger as the premise of their routines.  Among that modest group is Sarah Silverman, who has the ability to make us laugh and cringe at the same time.  She pushes the boundaries of good taste, sometimes in uncomfortable ways.  Nonetheless, I like her irreverence and willingness to take chances. 

I enjoyed chuckling at her standup during Jesus is Magic, but I was disappointed with the gratuitous content wrapped around it.  I came away with the impression that she and film’s producers felt that she didn’t have enough material from her live performance and felt compelled to add padding to stretch the length.  So on that basis, this critique is really two reviews: one for her standup and one for the padding.  Each should be considered separately.  Let’s begin with the good news.

The core of the disc’s material is a standup performance taped before a live audience.  That performance is worth the price of admission.  She riffs on sex, politics, religion, terrorism, and more . . . sometimes to startling effect.  She consistently hovers on that fine line between bad taste and genuinely funny.  Part of the effect must be credited to the shock value of a cute woman with an innocent little voice spouting some pretty nasty stuff.  Silverman must enjoy provoking an uncomfortable laugh from the audience with jokes that border on distress.  Are we really ready for jokes about an airline boasting in its advertising that its plane struck a Twin Tower first?  “We’re first in!”  See?  Uncomfortable.  And yet, she drills down through hypocrisy and sacred cows to amuse and entertain.  Want a taste of her outrageous style?  Have a look at the IMDB quote page from this release.

Her style is not wet-yourself Robin Williams frenetic.  Most of the time her laid back deadpan delivery will provoke a giggle or a smile.  But her tongue is so sharp that I find her irresistible.  (It may be an acquired taste.)   I would have been perfectly satisfied with a concert footage-based release, but that was not to be.  She felt it necessary to bookend and integrate a subplot into the film’s premise.  In an admirably self-deprecating way, she portrays herself as a bit of a jerk, unable to graciously accept the successes of friend Brian Posehn and sister Laura.  Sarah shoots off her mouth about her new gig and like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, finds herself putting on a show.  Embarrassingly self-conscious musical numbers and other backstage nonsense get in the way.  Hint, want to avoid most of the filler, skip chapters 1 and 2, skip chapter 6, skip chapter 8, and skip chapters 19 onward.  You won’t completely escape the questionable padding and disruptive editing, but this remote control editing will help considerably.

Perhaps there was a lot more stage material than was edited into the final cut.  Did she move too far out there?  Did some of her material fall flat and was edited out?  We’ll never know.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The material was originally captured on anamorphic DV, which has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.  The film’s theatrical aspect ratio is 1.85:1. The DVD features the full 1.78:1 anamorphic video frame.  The transfer is only moderately sharp with reasonable small object detail and finely grained textures.  The transfer is marred by modest edge halos.  Color accuracy is quite good based on very natural skin tones.  Shadow detail is a bit lacking due to some black crush.  There doesn’t seem to be any macroblocking or mosquito noise.  The overall appearance smacks of digital video, but not in a high definition sort of way.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is quite nice.  Audience reactions are mixed into the front sides and the surrounds.  A modest bottom end is present in the form of musical bass lines.  Sound effects seem like they were recorded practically and are not special.  The musical numbers are reproduced well, but most should be avoided.  Her standup is recorded with a microphone directly in front of her mouth, so the recording is dry and distortion-free.

There are no alternate languages, subtitles, or Closed Captions, but there is an alternative stereo English track, bizarrely available from the supplements screen.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There are several supplements on this disc.  First is a feature-length commentary by Silverman and director Liam Lynch.  Lynch is guilty of a bit of fawning, admiring joke after joke, outfit after outfit, laughing at his star both onscreen and in the studio with him.  Silverman doesn’t contribute as much as I had hoped.  I wanted more of her irreverence. 

The Making of Jesus is Magic (35:37) is a fine full frame feature that documents the making of the film.  The best part is Silverman’s dry delivery of off-the-cuff comments, sarcastic and cheeky.  Next is the full frame music video "Give the Jew Girl Toys" (2:25), which gives the mischievous Silverman a chance to question the relevance of Santa Claus and faith in general.   The anamorphic Jesus is Magic theatrical trailer runs 1:56.  The trailer for The Aristocrats (1:27) is not anamorphic, nor is Sarah Silverman’s segment (5:43) from that raunchy film, but it’s a great giggle.

The 72-minute film is organized into twenty-one chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts

If you think you may enjoy her standup, watch the DVD for her live performance and do a little judicious editing with your remote control.  A moderate transfer that is totally adequate for the material, a reasonable audio track, and a few good supplements round out an amusing stage performance.  But please keep in mind that Ms. Silverman may not be for everyone.