Chevy Chase Documentary Scores 100% On Rotten Tomatoes

6 days ago 15

Chevy Chase at the New York Premiere of Love, Gilda

Adam Bentz is a senior news writer at ScreenRant, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and lists. He studied creative writing and English with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University and interned as a writer/journalist for The Borgen Project, an influential organization that fights global poverty.

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The documentary, I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, has debuted to a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. The film follows the life and career of Chevy Chase, who rose to fame on Saturday Night Live before becoming a movie star during the 1980s, known for his slapstick style and deadpan delivery, though his career later declined due to his difficult behavior.

Now, following its premiere on CNN on January 1 and ahead of its release on HBO Max on January 31, I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not has debuted to a 100% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The documentary only has 10 reviews at the time of writing, so it could lose its perfect score as more are published.

With fewer than 50 ratings, the documentary does not yet have an audience score.

Directed by Marina Zenovich, the documentary film follows the life and career of Chevy Chase from his beginnings on Saturday Night Live during the late 1970s to his string of classic comedies during the 1980s, featuring interviews with those closest to him, including his family, Dan Aykroyd, Beverly D'Angelo, Goldie Hawn, Lorne Michaels, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Short and Kevin Smith.

Marina Zenovich – who has previously directed documentaries about Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and Lance Armstrong – has called Chevy Chase one of the most "rude" subjects she has interviewed. Members of the Community cast and crew, including creator Dan Harmon, were invited to take part in the documentary but declined, with Jay Chandrasekhar being the lone exception.

Overall, critics agree that the documentary is frank, funny, and deliberately uncomfortable, as Zenovich's patient camera lets Chevy Chase "squirm under the camera's gaze," as Chris Vognar of The Boston Globe puts it, who also praises its care in exploring how "tortured childhoods" shape comedians.

Several critics emphasize that the film avoids polemics, especially around cancel culture. Instead, Zenovich simply asks, as Owen Gleiberman of Variety puts it, "What do we think about someone like Chevy Chase?" As Decider's John Serba says, the documentary "lets the facts sit out in the open without judgment or justification."

Other critics highlight how the film balances Chase's flaws with his undeniable talent. Archival footage showcases his "immaculate comic timing," according to Leslie Felperin of The Guardian, while unfiltered moments reveal "his capacity for cruelty," per Pajiba's Dustin Rowles. Overall, I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not is an "eminently watchable and absorbing portrait of a deeply flawed but enormously funny man."