MARTIN SCORCESE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT FRAN LEBOWITZ

Over 80-some-odd minutes, Lebowitz chats with an unseen interviewer, talks onstage with Toni Morrison and is shown in various clips, from "Law and Order" guest stints to bantering with Conan O'Brien. In almost every venue, she's quick-witted, trenchant and provocative."Too many people are writing books, period," she proclaims, blaming an unwarranted abundance of self-esteem among aspiring authors. Later, she cites the preoccupation with fame Andy Warhol spoke of as "what happens when an inside joke gets into the water supply." And why, she marvels wryly, would gays even want to marry or join the military?Scorsese punctuates Lebowitz's musings and reminiscences with various TV clips, including one in which William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal nearly come to blows. But we seldom escape the company of the author herself, who dares opine that the AIDS epidemic diluted the culture by ushering in a "last man standing" scenario, as those people who weren't getting laid (presumably more boring, and less attractive) survived.

-Variety