Pee-wee as Himself (now streaming on HBO Max) is an absorbing documentary/biography from director Matt Wolf, with Pee-wee Herman's mastermind, Paul Reubens, hosting the affair with endearing, dry-witted reflections, captured not long before his untimely death.
The production shows Reubens from his earliest days and earliest characters, sometimes catering to his sexual preference, but more so his many friends and foes, such as Debbie Mazar, with whom he had a cozy relationship, Lynne Marie Stewart, who became a strong confidant and the essential co-creator of Miss Yvonne, and Phil Hartman, who harbored resentment for not receiving the credit he believed he deserved in the famed man-child's ascent.
Reuben's artsy/avant-garde endeavors consume a further chunk of his tale, covering his influential, stage production, the groundbreaking, HBO special, the Cheech & Chong movies, Tim Burton's Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the much maligned Big Top Pee-wee (which I'm not ashamed to say I prefer over the latter), the pop-cultural sensation, Pee-wee's Playhouse and a super-beloved, Christmas special, which flaunts an all-star cast (some of whom I still admire, with others having fallen from my favor over the years).
The startling scandals that nearly derailed Reubens' career and his vast, "warehouse" of collectibles, which appear to rival even that of Andy Warhol, consume the margins, but above all, Pee-Wee As Himself is a tribute to a creative rebel who certainly had his ups and downs, but left an indelible impression on those he encountered.
In a time when a blowhard, CNN personality can pleasure himself on camera (without impunity) and libraries can go the extra mile to promote pedophile fiction (thanks a bloody million, Phil Murphy!), one has to wonder why Reubens took as much flack as he did when the chips were down. At least this thorough, two-part movie sets the record straight and in its subtle but effective way, shames the haters who should have been shamed decades ago.
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