TV Reviews : Joan, Melissa Rivers Portray Own Lives

The fact that comedian Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa portray themselves is sure to generate additional interest in “Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story.”

Unfortunately, this over-inflated TV movie offers little beyond the novelty of seeing these two women re-enact the grief and turmoil that gripped their lives after the 1987 suicide of their husband and father, Edgar Rosenberg.

Watching “Tears and Laughter” is a lot like being locked on an emotional treadmill. After Rosenberg’s death at the top of the movie, there are innumerable scenes featuring Joan or Melissa trying desperately to come to terms with feelings of loss or guilt. These moments have minimal staying power, in part because little is revealed about the personal qualities that made Rosenberg so special to them and the troubles that caused him to take his life. Marital problems that led Joan to leave Rosenberg prior to his suicide are barely discussed.

“Tears and Laughter” is being billed as a dramatic story about a rocky mother-daughter relationship. Yet Joan and Melissa spend more time apart than they do together in this movie. While Joan is off working in show biz, Melissa finds herself in a destructive relationship with a fellow college student who abuses her. But the film fails to tie together these two stories in a dramatically involving manner.

* “Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39).