Beastie Boys Story (2020) ***1/2
Beastie Boys Story (2020) is a filmed version of the history of the group narrated by the two surviving members, Mike D and Ad-Rock, with visual and audio accompaniment onstage, in front of a crowd. There's some creative staging here and there, but one would expect a bit more panache from director Spike Jonze, responsible for the BB's most iconic music video ("Sabotage"), as well as many other famous and creative videos by plenty of other excellent musical acts (and a few pretty great films too).
For a documentary that is two hours long (including outtakes at the end), spending an entire hour on Licensed To Ill (1986) felt excessive. It could be because my introduction to BB was Check Your Head (1992) (a landmark album IMO and still my fave by them), so I've never been that into LTI (even in retrospect I prefer everything else they have ever done over it). If, in my teens, LTI had been my intro to the group instead of CYH, I'm sure it would be a more important album to me, despite the misogynistic party bro lyrics (even if they were a joke), but honestly I'm glad that my first exposure was to the more enlightened version of the group.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I understand how massively successful LTI was for Beastie Boys and why they would naturally spend a good chunk of time waxing about their hit debut album, but why not just make the documentary longer? It's especially weird because they barely spend any time talking about Hello Nasty (1998) and then they completely skip over To The 5 Burroughs (2004) (which, to me, no biggie—never been into that album much) and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011)! Speaking as a longtime fan, you wouldn't find me complaining about BBS being three to four hours long, had they gone that route. Plus, it seems like there are tons more anecdotes they could have gone into, with all that the trio accomplished during the group’s lifespan.
Regardless of my nitpicks though, BBS is highly enjoyable and emotional, particularly any time that Mike D and Ad-Rock talk about deceased member MCA. It's made perfectly clear how much they loved and respected him and how he was the rock of the group—the most ambitious, the most talented, and the most inquisitive of the three. It would have been a treat to see this story live. It also would have been a treat to see the group live and, sadly, I never did.
For a documentary that is two hours long (including outtakes at the end), spending an entire hour on Licensed To Ill (1986) felt excessive. It could be because my introduction to BB was Check Your Head (1992) (a landmark album IMO and still my fave by them), so I've never been that into LTI (even in retrospect I prefer everything else they have ever done over it). If, in my teens, LTI had been my intro to the group instead of CYH, I'm sure it would be a more important album to me, despite the misogynistic party bro lyrics (even if they were a joke), but honestly I'm glad that my first exposure was to the more enlightened version of the group.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I understand how massively successful LTI was for Beastie Boys and why they would naturally spend a good chunk of time waxing about their hit debut album, but why not just make the documentary longer? It's especially weird because they barely spend any time talking about Hello Nasty (1998) and then they completely skip over To The 5 Burroughs (2004) (which, to me, no biggie—never been into that album much) and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011)! Speaking as a longtime fan, you wouldn't find me complaining about BBS being three to four hours long, had they gone that route. Plus, it seems like there are tons more anecdotes they could have gone into, with all that the trio accomplished during the group’s lifespan.
Regardless of my nitpicks though, BBS is highly enjoyable and emotional, particularly any time that Mike D and Ad-Rock talk about deceased member MCA. It's made perfectly clear how much they loved and respected him and how he was the rock of the group—the most ambitious, the most talented, and the most inquisitive of the three. It would have been a treat to see this story live. It also would have been a treat to see the group live and, sadly, I never did.
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