So walking in to see this, I was anxious and excited to see it, especially after reading some glowing reviews I saw posted here on the IMDb website. But in all honesty, I started to feel well, guarded, about half-way watching the film. Why I started to feel guarded is because I really feel like the Replacements' music was there for me in my aimless youth, particularly my adolescence. Listening to their music was like having a heart to heart conversation that I wish I had with an old friend, telling me everything was going to be okay. It was like they we're saying, it's okay that you're a weirdo because you know what, we are too. So this guarded feeling came from me wanting to be there for this band, just like they were for me. And more importantly, hoping that people wouldn't misunderstand the band or try to add them into their pantheon of underground bands just to be seen as cool. So those questions started to form in my head, "Where is this director coming from?" Or "Why was this person or that person chosen to represent an ordinary Replacements fan?" And feeling like, I don't think you really like this band. You're just some dumb hipster schmuck who doesn't really get this band but are pretending to so that you can get some screen time to promote whatever it is that you do.
Don't get me wrong, I really do like this film. Particularly the people interviewed who actually knew the band or lended a helping hand. However, my main problem with giving the film a full 10 stars came down to a couple of things. The first being that for every album the Mats put out, a screen would come up displaying the year that it came out in, how many records were sold, and then whatever band was popular at the time and how many records they sold. Obviously it was meant to be "cheeky". But what I didn't like was that some of the artists that the filmmaker was trying to deem as less musical than the Mats or more pop oriented and catering to the masses, I recall reading in interviews that the Replacements did in the 80's and 90's, they actually liked. For instance, they actually liked Prince and Bon Jovi. And where this graphic screen completely didn't work for me and lost it's coherency and merit was when the screen pops up for Don't Tell A Soul and then underneath it states that Guns N' Roses was the best selling rock album for 1989. Why it doesn't work for me is because Tommy Stinson plays bass for G N' R now. When that happened, I had an eye rolling moment.
But my main gripe would have to be how the filmmaker chose to represent a typical Replacements' fan. What sticks out in my head and unfortunately so, is this annoying bearded writer with horn rimmed looking glasses who for some reason got the most screen time out of all the fans interviewed. At first he seemed alright until he said something that made me question if indeed he really was a fan of The Replacements or 1980's alternative and college rock. This guy actually said that he used to go into a wheatfield when he was 14 and conjure up The Replacements, in his head, to the point they would actually be hanging out with him in a wheatfield. What a bunch of pretentious drivel. And what I really didn't like was his very last moment of screen time, when he makes this statement about how The Replacements existed on some higher plane than R.E.M., U2, and The Dead Milkmen. That's where I felt like saying or better yet asking this character if he was in front of me saying that, well then, what other bands were you listening to from the mid to late 80's? In fact, didn't Peter Buck play the solo in "I Will Dare"? Didn't R.E.M. and The Replacements tour together at some point? I'm sorry but if you didn't sport a mohawk and weren't an overly aggressive male ie a jock in the mid to late 80's, than those were the bands you listened to.
Furthermore, the Mats never wanted to exist on some higher plane of music that this person was alleging they existed on. They just wanted to be themselves, drunk, sober, or even dumb, but always poetically so. They were never this sappy pseudo-intellectual hipster band. And it kind of pisses me off how people like that are trying to act like they know everything there is to know about The Replacements and or have been a fan of them for years.
It got me thinking that this bearded fellow, and some of the other bearded fellows might have been chosen or got the most screen time as some sort of marketing ploy so that this film could be marketed to the glib, hipster, youth market, when shopping for a distributor.
I also couldn't believe how no one mentioned what a powerful song "Skyway" was or is on the segment on Pleased to Me or even that they liked it. Come on now! That's one of the best songs they ever recorded and I found it unbelievable that no one even mentioned it.
Anyways, I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade by writing this review and I really do recommend this documentary to people, maybe not so much for longtime fans but for new ones. Longtime fans don't need to be reminded of the power of their music and history. However, I would like to see a more definitive documentary on them in the future, with the surviving members of the Replacements doing most of the talking similar to The Beatles anthology.
Because if anyone deserves some long overdue recognition for their contribution to music, The Replacements sure do.
Don't get me wrong, I really do like this film. Particularly the people interviewed who actually knew the band or lended a helping hand. However, my main problem with giving the film a full 10 stars came down to a couple of things. The first being that for every album the Mats put out, a screen would come up displaying the year that it came out in, how many records were sold, and then whatever band was popular at the time and how many records they sold. Obviously it was meant to be "cheeky". But what I didn't like was that some of the artists that the filmmaker was trying to deem as less musical than the Mats or more pop oriented and catering to the masses, I recall reading in interviews that the Replacements did in the 80's and 90's, they actually liked. For instance, they actually liked Prince and Bon Jovi. And where this graphic screen completely didn't work for me and lost it's coherency and merit was when the screen pops up for Don't Tell A Soul and then underneath it states that Guns N' Roses was the best selling rock album for 1989. Why it doesn't work for me is because Tommy Stinson plays bass for G N' R now. When that happened, I had an eye rolling moment.
But my main gripe would have to be how the filmmaker chose to represent a typical Replacements' fan. What sticks out in my head and unfortunately so, is this annoying bearded writer with horn rimmed looking glasses who for some reason got the most screen time out of all the fans interviewed. At first he seemed alright until he said something that made me question if indeed he really was a fan of The Replacements or 1980's alternative and college rock. This guy actually said that he used to go into a wheatfield when he was 14 and conjure up The Replacements, in his head, to the point they would actually be hanging out with him in a wheatfield. What a bunch of pretentious drivel. And what I really didn't like was his very last moment of screen time, when he makes this statement about how The Replacements existed on some higher plane than R.E.M., U2, and The Dead Milkmen. That's where I felt like saying or better yet asking this character if he was in front of me saying that, well then, what other bands were you listening to from the mid to late 80's? In fact, didn't Peter Buck play the solo in "I Will Dare"? Didn't R.E.M. and The Replacements tour together at some point? I'm sorry but if you didn't sport a mohawk and weren't an overly aggressive male ie a jock in the mid to late 80's, than those were the bands you listened to.
Furthermore, the Mats never wanted to exist on some higher plane of music that this person was alleging they existed on. They just wanted to be themselves, drunk, sober, or even dumb, but always poetically so. They were never this sappy pseudo-intellectual hipster band. And it kind of pisses me off how people like that are trying to act like they know everything there is to know about The Replacements and or have been a fan of them for years.
It got me thinking that this bearded fellow, and some of the other bearded fellows might have been chosen or got the most screen time as some sort of marketing ploy so that this film could be marketed to the glib, hipster, youth market, when shopping for a distributor.
I also couldn't believe how no one mentioned what a powerful song "Skyway" was or is on the segment on Pleased to Me or even that they liked it. Come on now! That's one of the best songs they ever recorded and I found it unbelievable that no one even mentioned it.
Anyways, I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade by writing this review and I really do recommend this documentary to people, maybe not so much for longtime fans but for new ones. Longtime fans don't need to be reminded of the power of their music and history. However, I would like to see a more definitive documentary on them in the future, with the surviving members of the Replacements doing most of the talking similar to The Beatles anthology.
Because if anyone deserves some long overdue recognition for their contribution to music, The Replacements sure do.