The original thread was closed. This is possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. They have incredible musical rights and they ruin it with stupid cartoon interruptions and dogs pooping. What a waste (pun intended). CBGB the movie
I completely disagree. I finally saw it a few months ago, and was expecting the worst only to find what’s really an enjoyable biopic of Hilly Kristal. I thought the movie had a lot of heart, and I could see in it’s execution and most of the performances a real commitment to honoring the legendary club. And I dug the comic book frames too. Full disclosure I worked on the film briefly as the graphic designer, remotely from L.A. ( the film was shot in Savannah, Georgia). I can tell you that I certainly strived to get all of my contributions right (which included the 1975 version of the awning). This was a place I spent time in, though I was slightly too young to have been there at the beginning. I did however attend the Ramones very last show there in 1978. Due to that late night I skipped the Police’s show there later that week, one of my great regrets, but these were school nights!
I don't like these kinds of recreation or biopic films usually so I would just never see this, I'm really hard pressed to think of many I actually can say I enjoyed, only come up with Control about Ian Curtis. Will never see Stoned or lots of other such things, so it may be a case of if you know that you know too much give them a skip? Sid And Nancy some people raved about and I was at best willing to consider it tolerable. 24 Hour Party People as well was tolerable, but so many other things I've sat through hating almost every bit of it. As they say, your milage may vary.
I never even knew this movie existed till a couple of years ago, when I came across a lengthy, angry blog post by a guy who claimed to have been a CBGB employee. He listed everything that the movie got wrong/historically inaccurate. Rather than keeping me away from the movie, however, reading this screed made me say "I gotta see this thing!" As a historical document, the movie may have been pretty useless, but as a B-grade rock n roll comedy, it was entertaining enough. Alan Rickman was great as Hilly. I felt the Ramones' portion of the story got short shrift, (and the scene where they audition for Hilly in 1974 by playing "I Got Knocked Down But I'll Get Up," a Joey solo song, was damn near unforgivable!) but the four guys playing them were pretty spooky lookalikes.
I went in looking for “entertainment” and just thought it was annoying. I did not watch the last 20 minutes, I was over it.
I figured as much, but geez, it took me right out of the moment! They would've been better off trying to find some garage band who could cut a quickie sound-alike cover of a real Ramones song (or at least some Ramones-sounding riffs) to use in that scene. Shoot, a band like The Huntingtons (who are dead ringers for the Ramones; they even served as Joey's backup band on several occasions) probably would've done it for nothing!
I've heard it was pretty terrible when I put it on the day. That was way too kind of a description. Turned it off after hearing "Debbie Harry's" NYC accent before the flick plopped in another album recording lip sync masquerading as a live performance. Could not stand it anymore. Utterly boring piece of insulting trash.
I watched this today not expecting much but liked it a lot. I was too young to ever go there in its heyday in the 70’s, but saw several shows there in the 80’s and 90’s. The film definitely got the filth factor of the place right! I liked Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Hilly a lot. And any film that features music by Television gets my vote! It’s tough to accurately portray a “scene”, especially one with so many instantly recognizable iconic musicians who are really only supporting characters at best. I liked the comic book drawings a lot too - I think that reflected the ‘zine culture of the underground music scene pretty well.
I saw it a few weeks ago on Amazon. It was so-so. I've never heard so many Mink DeVille songs in my life. I didn't know that Hilly was behind the Dead Boys. He probably should have gotten behind the Talking Heads. They sold a lot more records.
I finally watched this last night as the icon has been staring at me on Amazon Prime for months. I enjoyed it. I thought the guys who played the Heads, Television, and the Ramones were near dead ringers. The girl who played Debbie Harry was a little off, but her stage moves were good. The guy who played Lou Reed was too young. I saw some gigs there back in the 80s, but was struggling to decide if it actually looked like that. I layout was right. Age ...
