Marc Maron Moves Forward in “Are We Good?”

Are We Good? (Steven Feinartz, 2025) 3½ out of 5 stars

In the world of modern comedy, few folks have carved out a niche like Marc Maron. Over the last three decades, he’s built a reputation for being an irascible curmudgeon with good taste. It may seem rude, at first, but after enough time listening to him, you realize it’s all just a form of anxiety. The kind that’s kept people at a distance for years. However, Maron’s willing to make an exception for director Steven Feinartz (Eddie Pepitone: For the Masses), who manages to capture just what makes this man tick.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Marc Maron made his way to the LA comedy scene in the late 1980s. He found himself straddling two worlds, balancing traditional standup gigs with more alternative work. Unfortunately, this period was marked by a string of volatile relationships and addictions. As he approaches 60, Maron is more willing to reflect on his choices, good and bad. He is incredibly candid about his mortality, wondering how much impact his work will have on anyone’s lives.

Are We Good? skillfully combines several different sources: excerpts from Maron’s on-stage performances, clips from his podcast WTF, Instagram Live recordings, vérité-style material of him out and about, archival footage, and interviews with Maron and his friends. His podcast interviews with Andrew Garfield and Patton Oswalt are particularly revealing, due to their shared experiences with grief. Can comedy ever feel appropriate after loss? Maron thinks it can.

The real key to Are We Good? is Maron’s relationship with independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton. The two began dating during the late 2010s before she passed away from a rare blood disease in 2020. Years later, he is still visibly processing this loss, and it is felt throughout the film. Maron’s close friends agree that he has always been prickly, but he felt like a better person in her gaze. The film managed to make me miss someone I’ve never met.

Doubling down on that theme of mortality, Maron is also dealing with his father’s dementia. Like everything he does, Maron deals with it through comedy. He finds a way to use something dark and tragic to help people empathize with him. By extension, his ongoing podcast WTF allows him to do something similar, just in an interview format.

The only mark against Are We Good? is that around the midpoint, it starts to feel like one grumpy moment after another. We have several scenes of Maron in his home or out buying cat food, which, while revealing more character, feel like they’re diverting from the wider story. The film really succeeds whenever it focuses on Maron’s relationships. It serves as a vulnerable tribute to love lost and an excellent look at someone wondering if their life was worth it, and what comes next.

George W. Campbell

George W. Campbell is a director/screenwriter/editor from Bowie, Maryland, whose films focus on themes of family and personal relationships. As a Nicaraguan-American filmmaker, he aims to highlight specific parts of his culture and personal experiences (songs, dances, foods, and language).