The Reel Review
With a true larger than life personality, actor Martin Short, one of our generation’s most influential comedians, is also one of the most joyous people you will ever meet – either despite or because of experiencing so much death in his life. This documentary looks at his well-lived life.
Drawing from a combination of interviews with family members, co-worker/friends and a treasure trove of never-before-seen old photos and home videos, we see Short first as a precocious, happy child who entertained his family in Hamilton, Ontario, and later as a precocious adult dazzling audiences, be it on SCTV or Saturday Night Live, or a myriad of movies and TV shows over his decades-long career.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this documentary is how you can really feel just how close Short is with all of his colleague friends – be it sister-in-law Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Steve Martin or his beloved wife Nancy. The home video of Steven Spielberg filming Tom Hanks and Short recreating a classic scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as characters Forrest Gump and Ed Grimley gives you an idea of what a joy this documentary is. These people truly love one another.
The film also explores the serious side, namely the deaths of his older brother and both parents during Short’s childhood, the 2010 death of his wife Nancy, and most recently, the deaths of his daughter Katherine and his dear friends and colleagues, Diane Keaton, Rob and Michele Reiner and Catherine O’Hara. In giving us this unique glimpse inside Martin Short’s world, director Lawrence Kasdan easily succeeds in making us love Short as much as he does. We should all be so lucky to have a friend like Martin Short.
REEL FACTS
• Martin Short’s 42-year-old daughter Katherine died in February 2026 from suicide after a lengthy battle with mental illness. Short has described Katherine’s death as “a nightmare for the family.” Katherine worked in private practice as a licensed clinical social worker.
• Lawrence Kasdan’s movie credits include The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Bodyguard as a screenwriter and Body Heat, The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist and Grand Canyon as a writer/director.
• In addition to his natural U.S. citizenship, Martin Short has retained his Canadian citizenship and also has Irish and British citizenship.
Video & Photo
