Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays (2014) * * * (shown on HBO)

Directed by:  Des McAnuff

Billy Crystal's one-man Broadway show takes us through a journey which would shape and create the comedian.     Focusing mostly on his childhood and teen years, he paints a vivid portrait of his family and others who occupied his home in Long Beach, Long Island, New York.    Crystal narrates with boundless energy, as if he had a ton of stories he couldn't wait to tell you about.    I couldn't help but compare this show to Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth, which failed mostly because Tyson does not succeed as a public speaker.   Crystal is at home, funny, and sometimes touching in his recount of his childhood.   Plus, it is very easy to understand him.     Tyson wasn't really any of those things.

This review is about what 700 Sundays is rather than what The Undisputed Truth isn't.     Born in 1948 to a middle class Jewish family, Crystal refers to "700 Sundays" as the fifteen years worth of Sundays he spent with his father and family.    His father died suddenly of a heart attack when Crystal was fifteen, causing a few years worth of grief, heartache, anger, and uncertainty in Crystal.     He recovered and went on to marry, have children, and begin a hugely successful career in stand-up comedy, movies, and television.     In between were the laughs and sadness and those moments every family understands and each can truly call its own.

There were some things revealed that I didn't know about Crystal, such as his family ties to jazz greats Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie.    Some of his recollections are funny,  some sentimental, some sad.    Crystal succeeds at evoking a nostalgic feeling for people we didn't know, but we soon feel like we did.     Not every story is necessarily compelling and the show probably runs 10-15 minutes longer than it needed to, but we understand Crystal's need to tell these stories.  

Crystal doesn't allow 700 Sundays to become a regurgitation of his standup act.     Other than a brief Edward G. Robinson impression, he doesn't break out into impressions or familiar routines.     He focuses on the stories and memories that live on from that small house in Long Island.     There is even touching footage of Crystal touring the now vacant home one last time, peering into each room and remembering what he saw there all those years ago.      Sometimes life moves forward so quickly that we take little time to reflect back.     Were "the old days" as romantic and nostalgic as we make them out to be?   Of course not, but we tend to remember only the most important times and we need to see them that way.     Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays understands that all too well.