CBGB (2013)

Very disappointing...

Sadly Over-hyped

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I came across this movie on Netflix streaming. I am a Rickman fan so watched it because of him. The subject turns out to be Punk Rock, a music genre that I truly hate, but the story of how all this came about is very interesting.Alan Rickman is New Jersey native Hilly Kristal who in 1973, after at least a couple of failed businesses leading to bankruptcy, decided to start yet another new business. He was certain that country music would be the next big thing so he called his place 'CBGB' which stood for 'Country, Blue Grass, and Blues.'As it turned out those musical forms never took off in his place, they took off in Nashville. But the CBGB became a magnet for alternative forms of music, like Punk Rock. Like The Ramones, or Debbie Harry, or The Dead Boys. Even The Police featuring Sting.Hilly was never much of a businessman. His place was crude and pest- infested, and he probably had the dirtiest toilets in Manhattan. He never bargained contracts for supplies and was paying too much, cutting into profits, which ended up in cash in his freezer.His daughter is played by Ashley Greene as Lisa Kristal, she recognizes his lack of business skills and sets out to make things right but Hilly was not very cooperative.All in all a pretty fascinating story, if it had been written as fiction we would have a hard time believing many of the things that are portrayed here.

'CBGB': Four Stars (Out of Five)A biographical comedy film about the New York club CBGB and it's founder Hilly Kristal. It was directed by Randall Miller and written by Miller and Jody Savin (who worked on multiple screenplays with Miller). The film stars Alan Rickman as Hilly Kristal and co-stars the likes of Ashley Greene (of 'TWILIGHT' fame), Donal Logue, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Zuckerman, Ahna O'Reilly and Richard de Klerk. It also features a number of other actors as famous rock stars; like Malin Akerman as Debbie Harry, Joel David Moore as Joey Ramone, Taylor Hawkins as Iggy Pop, Mickey Sumner as Patti Smith, Kyle Gallner as Lou Reed, Justin Bartha as Stiv Bators and Rupert Grint (of 'HARRY POTTER' fame) as Cheetah Chrome. I found the movie to be highly entertaining and informative.Rickman plays New York club owner Hilly Kristal, who opened CBGB in Manhattan in 1973. He originally planned to have country, bluesgrass and blues bands play there (which is what the name stands for) but instead turned it into an underground Rock 'n' Roll venue. It played only new and original music, from mostly punk and New Wave bands (like the Ramones, Misfits, The Dead Boys, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith Group, The Police and Joan Jett & The Bleackhearts to name a few). It's largely seen as the birthplace of American punk rock music. The film focuses on Kristal's struggles to keep the club open as he deals with many financial issues. He later became known as the 'godfather of punk'. The first genre of music I really got into (as a young adult) was punk and alternative music (mostly pop punk and ska punk bands at first but later more traditional punk rock music as well). One of my all-time favorite bands is the Ramones and I've always been fascinated by CBGB and the early 70s punk rock scene; so this movie was really interesting to me (I also found it to be highly entertaining). I was expecting a more serious biography film and was quite surprised to see a cartoonish style comedy flick (that takes a lot of creative liberties). Some punk rock fans might be upset by this but I liked it. I thought Rickman was great and Bartha, Grint and Moore are all scene-stealers as well (all of the performances are good in fact). I think it will go down in film history as a cult classic among film and music fans! If you're into the same style of music you're almost sure to be entertained.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJalgBjCCrg

I have no emotional investment in the time, place, or music represented in the movie CBGB. If anything, I prefer the Country, Blue Grass, and Blues Hilly original meant to present in his bar. But, never having been to CBGB or having any great interest in the bands who developed there, I can react to the movie as a movie instead of worrying about whether the CBGB in the movie really matches up with what I saw there or whether the actors chosen to play my favorite band really look or sound like the people they're playing.So? I liked the movie. I liked Hilly, the main character in the movie who started CBGB. The film is frequently amusing, such as when Hilly's mom (played by the same actress who was George Costanza's mom on Seinfeld) enjoys a bowl of the chili.The acting is fine. Rickman does a good job and I didn't realize until the credits that it was Freddy Rodriguez very convincingly playing the junkie Idaho.I went to see a screening with a musician who'd played CBGB in the early 90s and he said, yes it was that filthy and Rickman does a pretty good job as Hilly. One of the producers and an actress who'd had a small part in the film were also there and added a lot of information.If you're interested in the start of Punk and weren't there, you'll probably like the movie. If you were there, it may depend on how much historical accuracy you expect. You shouldn't expect a lot of historical accuracy in any movie though, so take it for what it is: a fairly entertaining movie.

The casting is laughable, hello Ashley Greene, and the character introductions are so unsubtle you could only assume that the producers had no faith that the audience would recognize little known rock stars like Lou Reed and the Ramones. It's hard to type sarcastically but I hope you get my drift. It's like, "Oh hello Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie, how's it going." That's not an actual line but not far off. Like Hilly's story, the film's heart is in the right place but alway falls short went it comes to the payoff. I'm bummed I spent $3.99 to rent this on iTunes, save yourself that money and go buy a Big Mac, it's much more worth it.