Sadly Over-hyped

Fantastic!

Absolutely brilliant

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

As I read these reviews, I wonder if we were watching the same documentary or if those above watch many of them. I don't say that arrogantly, but rather I've seen some documentaries on great subject matters which have sadly fallen short due to bad editing or meandering paths with no seeming point in sight.The documentaries which are similar to this one in which the subject matter was amazing but the film making fell short include "Billy Childish is Dead" and "Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise Here)".This documentary starts off well enough with many photos of a young Shane and sad interviews with his parents who carry their age much better than Shane. But this film features random bits of Shane signing shirts of middle aged ladies, about four or five complete music videos and a very odd meandering style which really was not conducive to the story. The long and the short of it is that if you're not a Pogues fan, you might not want to have this be your intro to them. Go find your local Irish punk fan, get drunk with them on whiskey and rock out. It'd be better. I found myself knowing enough about Shane that I always seemed about 10 minutes ahead of the time line of the film because the film was that slow. I found myself being bored because it was another random few minutes of footage with hard to hear interviews and grainy inside shots of Shane in another bar. Overall, this documentary could have been 45 minutes shorter, had better paced editing and a more comprehensive set of interviewees. The five stars are for Pogues fans who will love this no matter what... the lack of five is for anyone else who doesn't know much about the band. You'd be better off watching the music videos on the bonus section of the DVD because that's about half the documentary right there.

if you love the music of the Pogues, you'll love this documentary. If you've never even * heard* of the Pogues- you have a real treat coming in this film. (and this from someone who's kids are older than MacGowan!)Another plus : after seeing the honest, often moving and funny scenesand interviews of Shane, you'll never again judge people by their appearance.And the songs are brilliant, indescribably wonderful. "Fairytale of New York" will be a classic Christmas song, up there with "White Christmas"(though of another world!) If you get Sundance Channel, see it while you can.

As a Pogues fan, I really appreciated this intimate look at Shane MacGowan. Although Shane's sweet side comes out in his lyrics, I never really knew too much about the man. Yes, the one on one interviews w/ Shane were very hard to understand, but it's worth watching nonetheless. The film cast Shane as the sweet drunk at the party, both witty and romantic. Obviously not all the results of Shane's relationship w/ "the drink" were shown, especially as it related to his leaving the band. It's in impossible for me to rate this film objectively as Shane is one of those artists who really spoke to me as a teenager and I've loves his work ever since.

There's no VH1 Behind the Music episode dealing with Shane MacGowan or the Pogues, so this perhaps comes the closest to such an animal. It's a frank look at Shane, and what has gotten him to this stage in life where he's an Irish icon, but in a constant state of drunkenness and God knows what else. It also details his amazing songwriting over the years, and features numerous live clips and video clips. Also has a few insightful interviews from Nick Cave and Phil Chevron, among others.If you're a fan you'll find it somewhat insightul and very funny, and well worth watching.HOWEVERIf you're not a fan of Shane, the Pogues or Irish music, it would be hard to recommend, which is why I gave it 9 instead of 10. Call it a nod to those who haven't discovered Shane yet.