Jim Carrey stars in this unusual show dubbed a “tragicomedy”. He plays Mr. Jeff Pickles, the host of a beloved children’s show who has a do-gooder way of looking at life.
In contrast to his job cheering up kids and giving lessons in what’s good or bad, he has to deal with a dark reality: the passing of his son. His wife left him as a consequence and he lives alone and away from his family.
Kidding is about the contradictions that a life in show business brings and about what it takes for an optimistic person like Jeff to break. Produced and directed by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director, Michel Gondry.
"Trapped inside a part, he's a fraction of a man. Listen for the moments when the softness of his nurturing voice shades into a pale hush, as if he is speaking from an unreachable distance, stranded in a land of make-believe."
— Troy Patterson
"I really loved this! For one thing, it's a sign of genuine growth that Jeff finally realizes that kids need someone to hear them, not someone to tell them what to do - a lesson he learned from Will repeating it more or less constantly all season."
— Harry Waksberg
Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, is an icon of children's TV. But when his family begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through this crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: a kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.
Golden Globes
2 nominations
