I saw this movie because I had written a screenplay about 6 years ago about The Dead Boys and CBGBs that circulated town and was never bought. I was curious - and a little suspicious - needless to say when this movie went into production. My fears were unfounded, almost nothing I wrote was in this sloppy, scotch-taped up plot less pile of scenes.
First off, you have endless possibilities for interesting stories. This was a seminal period in rock n roll history. But to make the "Hilly Kristal Story" is a ridiculous choice. He simply is not the hero of this scene or this movement. He was a passive bar owner who was in the right place at the right time. He waddles around the movie with no interest in anything other than making a buck. I met and interviewed Hilly - around 2006. He seemed like he barely cared and even admitted he was in the right place at the right time.
The Dead Boys are a totally interesting story and they are treated like a bunch of spoiled sh*theads. Every cameo rock star appearance is silly and embarrassing. Iggy Pop gets like one line? No lines for Dee Dee? Where was Johnny Thunders? Where was Seymour Stein and Sire Records? Why does Legs friggin McNeil use the word 'dude' constantly - remember we are in 1977? Lou Reed cameo was nauseating. Sloppy.
But here's what's really awful: It feels fake and made up from half-remembered anecdotes. The fact that Hilly's daughter - incidentally an EP on the film - plays a crucial part of the story also rubs me the wrong way. CBGB was about the music, not about some guy who ate Hostess cupcakes and paid the rent.
Plot: none. No climax, no resolution. No character development. Characters enter and leave and reenter and leave. The story opens on the so-called "inventors of punk" - um, no. They made a fan magazine and wrote an OK book on which the source material was based. They were witnesses, not inventors. And they served no point in the film except to irritate me with political rants every 30 minutes. By the way, that's 4 appearances, because this is a slow-moving 120 minute movie whose best scenes are between an incidental made-up cop character and the bar- owner. Nothing happens except the usual "you're on thin ice mister."
The sets are vaguely realistic, though the Agnostic Front stickers really made my hair curl. The cartoons were OK. This may sound like I'm jealous because this was somehow pushed through the system with a huge catalog of punk songs (most of the budget must have gone to Sting, BTW) - but I'm relieved that there is still a good movie or miniseries to be made about this era. This just isn't it.
First off, you have endless possibilities for interesting stories. This was a seminal period in rock n roll history. But to make the "Hilly Kristal Story" is a ridiculous choice. He simply is not the hero of this scene or this movement. He was a passive bar owner who was in the right place at the right time. He waddles around the movie with no interest in anything other than making a buck. I met and interviewed Hilly - around 2006. He seemed like he barely cared and even admitted he was in the right place at the right time.
The Dead Boys are a totally interesting story and they are treated like a bunch of spoiled sh*theads. Every cameo rock star appearance is silly and embarrassing. Iggy Pop gets like one line? No lines for Dee Dee? Where was Johnny Thunders? Where was Seymour Stein and Sire Records? Why does Legs friggin McNeil use the word 'dude' constantly - remember we are in 1977? Lou Reed cameo was nauseating. Sloppy.
But here's what's really awful: It feels fake and made up from half-remembered anecdotes. The fact that Hilly's daughter - incidentally an EP on the film - plays a crucial part of the story also rubs me the wrong way. CBGB was about the music, not about some guy who ate Hostess cupcakes and paid the rent.
Plot: none. No climax, no resolution. No character development. Characters enter and leave and reenter and leave. The story opens on the so-called "inventors of punk" - um, no. They made a fan magazine and wrote an OK book on which the source material was based. They were witnesses, not inventors. And they served no point in the film except to irritate me with political rants every 30 minutes. By the way, that's 4 appearances, because this is a slow-moving 120 minute movie whose best scenes are between an incidental made-up cop character and the bar- owner. Nothing happens except the usual "you're on thin ice mister."
The sets are vaguely realistic, though the Agnostic Front stickers really made my hair curl. The cartoons were OK. This may sound like I'm jealous because this was somehow pushed through the system with a huge catalog of punk songs (most of the budget must have gone to Sting, BTW) - but I'm relieved that there is still a good movie or miniseries to be made about this era. This just isn't it.