The fact that this was directed by a woman turned what might have been a much raunchier film into a blandish comedy but Howard was probably looking to reach a broader audience at the time. It is a good movie, not great, but mostly a disappointment for Stern fans as it is not a real history of the events that took place. Here's some fake movie history:
Luke Perry introduced Howard as Fartman on MTV not John Stamos.
Why would Dee Snider make a face at Howard behind stage when they were great friends at the time. Oh by the way, Dee was not even there as Twisted Sister had broke up in 1988, the event was in Sept. of 1992. Neither was Flavor Flav, Ozzy, Blues Traveler, MC Hammer, or Tiny Tim, etc, etc. Also no one treated Howard that way back stage, he was very famous at the time, had a #1 book and many of the same powers to help or hurt peoples careers.
There is no song called "Mama Look-A Boo Boo" from the time Howard was driving with his father.
The dirty puppet show at the old folks home never happened.
They leave out the fact that Howard was doing bits for years before he "discovered himself" and don't show any of the many people he worked with on air over the years in college and up to NBC.
Howard was not playing punk music like the Ramones at WRNW, in fact he played mostly disco.
Howard did not meet Fred in his first minute on the air at WCCC.
Howard was never in a bathtub with Fred and an actress.
Howard didn't have long hair until the very end of his time with WNBC.
Howard did not quit on the air at WWWW when they went country.
Robin did not meet Howard on the air, they had both received tapes of each other prior to meeting and then decided to work together.
The on the air orgasm did not happen that way, it was with a small radio and sounded completely different. Technically it could not be done as shown in the movie.
Robin was not with Howard at the beginning at NBC as she quit in DC taking a straight news job after not being picked up by WNBC and blamed Howard for abandoning her. So the first night tryout for the Stern crew could never have happened with her. It also did not sound that way, they did not say sperm and gargle with it.
Their programmers nickname was pig virus, not pig vomit, why they changed this I have no clue.
The prevalence of breast implants is ridiculous in this movie, (girl on phone, girl in studio, girls in lesbian dream) this was not very common in the early 80's especially for women not in the porn or movie industry.
In the last scene at the concert (the film says July 27th 1985), Howard looked nothing like this in 1985 nor did Robin. Phil Rudd was not in AC/DC at the time, nor did Stern's wife go into labor. His kids were born in 1983, 1986 and 1993. She wasn't even pregnant at the time, their next child wouldn't be born until May 9, 1986.
I really have no problem with movies condensing or changing things a little because of time restraints or creativity but please, when you actually make things up that never happened its a little disconcerting. I mean why don't we just make a movie where Jesus is at the Battle of Waterloo, or John Lennon gets shot on a space ship or George Washington meets Hitler. The sad thing is this happens all the time and people believe its true and take it as history, just look at Braveheart where historical characters are in the same time period even though they lived 200 years apart.
Its just sad and stupid.
Luke Perry introduced Howard as Fartman on MTV not John Stamos.
Why would Dee Snider make a face at Howard behind stage when they were great friends at the time. Oh by the way, Dee was not even there as Twisted Sister had broke up in 1988, the event was in Sept. of 1992. Neither was Flavor Flav, Ozzy, Blues Traveler, MC Hammer, or Tiny Tim, etc, etc. Also no one treated Howard that way back stage, he was very famous at the time, had a #1 book and many of the same powers to help or hurt peoples careers.
There is no song called "Mama Look-A Boo Boo" from the time Howard was driving with his father.
The dirty puppet show at the old folks home never happened.
They leave out the fact that Howard was doing bits for years before he "discovered himself" and don't show any of the many people he worked with on air over the years in college and up to NBC.
Howard was not playing punk music like the Ramones at WRNW, in fact he played mostly disco.
Howard did not meet Fred in his first minute on the air at WCCC.
Howard was never in a bathtub with Fred and an actress.
Howard didn't have long hair until the very end of his time with WNBC.
Howard did not quit on the air at WWWW when they went country.
Robin did not meet Howard on the air, they had both received tapes of each other prior to meeting and then decided to work together.
The on the air orgasm did not happen that way, it was with a small radio and sounded completely different. Technically it could not be done as shown in the movie.
Robin was not with Howard at the beginning at NBC as she quit in DC taking a straight news job after not being picked up by WNBC and blamed Howard for abandoning her. So the first night tryout for the Stern crew could never have happened with her. It also did not sound that way, they did not say sperm and gargle with it.
Their programmers nickname was pig virus, not pig vomit, why they changed this I have no clue.
The prevalence of breast implants is ridiculous in this movie, (girl on phone, girl in studio, girls in lesbian dream) this was not very common in the early 80's especially for women not in the porn or movie industry.
In the last scene at the concert (the film says July 27th 1985), Howard looked nothing like this in 1985 nor did Robin. Phil Rudd was not in AC/DC at the time, nor did Stern's wife go into labor. His kids were born in 1983, 1986 and 1993. She wasn't even pregnant at the time, their next child wouldn't be born until May 9, 1986.
I really have no problem with movies condensing or changing things a little because of time restraints or creativity but please, when you actually make things up that never happened its a little disconcerting. I mean why don't we just make a movie where Jesus is at the Battle of Waterloo, or John Lennon gets shot on a space ship or George Washington meets Hitler. The sad thing is this happens all the time and people believe its true and take it as history, just look at Braveheart where historical characters are in the same time period even though they lived 200 years apart.
Its just sad and stupid.