TRIBECA 2025 | Movie Review: "Are We Good" Is, Indeed, Really Good
10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
There’s a certain level of honesty required from biographical storytelling, whether in documentary or narrative form, for it to feel sincere. Oftentimes, you run the risk of watering things down and shying away from harsh realities in favor of a more positive portrayal.
But in Are We Good?, comedian/podcaster/actor Marc Maron demonstrates a level of vulnerability that makes us front-seat passengers on his journey, allowing us to celebrate his highest highs and commiserate his lowest lows.
At its core, Are We Good? is about Maron’s relationships – with grief, with humor, with people, and with his work. We find Maron at a challenging crossroad as he struggles with the loss of his partner – filmmaker Lynn Shelton – while the pandemic has put his stand-up career and much of the world around him on pause.
While the film is equal parts a biography as well as a meditation on Maron’s process as an artist – despite the fact that he doesn’t consider himself an artist – it’s also, simply put, a very human story. He’s struggling, that’s obvious. But he’s also processing.
Maron speaks directly to us, whether it be through the lens of director Steven Feinart – who spectacularly captures Maron’s candor, through his stand-up, or through archives of his Instagram live recordings – sometimes poignant and often rambling. He’s using these forms of dialogue to figure things out in a beautifully relatable way. He’s grieving, but he wants to get better. He wants to be good.
Even in the snippets we get of Maron recording his podcast, he’s working through feelings of loss and heartbreak with the likes of Patton Oswalt and Andrew Garfield, who have also publicly discussed their struggles after losing loved ones.
No matter what he’s doing, whether he’s recording another episode of WTF or working through jokes for his next comedy set, there’s a catharsis in the way that he’s using his mediums of communication as a means to find peace in one of the most difficult periods of his life.
Because we’re given such a raw and unfiltered look at what Maron is going through, the emotional payoff is incredibly immense.
Are We Good? is a touching and intimate portrait of one of our generation's most unique and singular personalities, successfully oscillating between comedy and drama. It holds little back in portraying the ups and downs of loss and grief, but that makes the moments we can celebrate with Maron that much more satisfying. It’s a truly stunning work that I hope the masses can experience soon.