Originally famous as a choreographer and performer, Bob Fosse directed five movies and earned Best Director Oscar nominations for three of them. Released between 1972’s Cabaret and 1979’s All That Jazz, 1974’s Lenny became the second in this run.

In the 1950s, Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman) launches a career as a fairly standard nightclub comedian. He also pursues stripper Honey Harlow (Valerie Perrine) and marries her.

As time passes, Bruce takes more chances and courts controversy in his acts. This leads to legal troubles, career ups and downs, and a death in 1966 at the age of 40.

Spoiler alert? One hopes not, but I suppose many might enter Lenny with little knowledge of Bruce’s life and work.

That partially includes me, as I went into Lenny with only a sketchy awareness of Bruce’s legacy. Mainly I knew him as the boundary-pushing counter-culture comic of the 1960s.

Lenny tells Bruce’s tale in a documentary style, one that sometimes revolves around interviews with those close to Bruce – played by actors, that is. In addition to Perrine’s Honey, we hear from manager Artie Silver (Stanley Beck), and mother Sally Marr (Jan Miner).

In addition, Lenny uses photography that leans toward a loose feel – well, some of the time. It varies from that hand-held sensation to more traditional framing.

All of this tends to feel like windowdressing that attempts to spice up a bland narrative. At its core, Lenny tells a surprisingly dull story of its subject’s existence.

Most of Lenny pursues Bruce’s life in chronological order from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s. His relationship with Honey becomes a bigger focal point than his career.

I guess that attempts to add insight into Bruce’s mind and personality. However, this doesn’t really work, as the film fails to turn Bruce into a particularly interesting character.

Indeed, it seems surprising that such a controversial performer would seem so dull in his regular life. Oh, Lenny gets edgier at home as the story progresses, factors mainly reflected in his up and down marriage to Honey.

Lenny tends to depict this journey in a scattershot manner that doesn’t coalesce especially well. Again, I get the sense that Bruce’s life outside of his groundbreaking career simply wasn’t all that interesting, as even the ebbs and flows of his time with Honey fail to seem especially involving.

Fosse tends to let some scenes run too long, as if he knew he lacked the content to flesh out a full film so he padded it. For instance, our intro to Honey via a striptease lasts forever, a choice that demonstrates no obvious purpose.

The actors do fine in their oddly sketchy parts, though Hoffman fails to pull off Bruce’s standup well. While he can deliver the dramatic scenes, he doesn’t show skill as a stage comedian.

We don’t really get a sense for what made Bruce a standout standup as well. The routines we hear don’t seem especially funny, so while they may’ve been daring and novel at the time, they don’t show comedic genius.

Lenny shows more life when it concentrates on his legal issues, as those bring drama. Too much of the rest of the film seems oddly blah, unfortunately.

Lenny appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not the most dynamic presentation, the transfer appeared to replicate the original material well.

Sharpness was generally pretty good, with a relatively crisp picture for most of the film. A general softness tended to intrude upon the proceedings from time to time, but it usually wasn't problematic.

I saw no concerns with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes weren’t present. The film came with all its intended grain and I saw no print flaws.

Black levels felt deep, and shadow detail seemed fairly strong. Overall, I felt pleased with this satisfying presentation.

In addition, the movie’s LPCM monaural soundtrack appeared perfectly acceptable for its age and the flick’s aspirations. Speech generally came across as accurately rendered and lacked notable edginess or other issues.

Music and effects worked in similar ways, as they showed decent accuracy and lacked distortion. Nothing here excelled, but the audio seemed more than satisfactory for the material and vintage.

When we move to extras, we find an audio commentary from film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman. Recorded for a 2015 Twilight Time Blu-ray, Kirgo and Redman sit together for a running, screen-specific look at the realities of Lenny Bruce’s life/career and the movie’s version, story and characters, cast and performances, photography and editing, and their thoughts about the film.

Although commentaries of this sort tend to pour on praise, Kirgo and Redman offer a full critique of Lenny. Honestly, neither seem to like the movie very much, and I appreciate that honesty.

Kirgo and Redman deliver a good mix of these views along with production details and history related to Fosse and Bruce. This winds up as a strong commentary.

Archival interviews (6:07) from 1975 appear as well. Part of a French TV show, we hear from actors Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine during separate chats.

Both talk about their roles, their performances and related experiences. Though brief, the segments include a few good thoughts.

Along with the movie’s trailer, we get a circa 2023 interview with editor Alan Heim (22:15) in which he discusses how he came to the film, his work and his collaboration with Bob Fosse. Heim provides useful notes.

The set concludes with a booklet that includes credits, photos, an essay from critic Mark Harris and a 1975 interview with director Bob Fosse. It finishes the package on a positive note.

Not every famous figure lived a life that creates a compelling cinematic journey, and that becomes the case with Lenny. It fails to make controversial comedian Lenny Bruce an interesting subject so the film feels slow and dull too much of the time. The Blu-ray comes with generally satisfying picture and audio as well as a few bonus materials highlighted by a very good commentary. Lenny never really connects.