Barenaked in America (1999)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Jason Priestley

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A rockumentary about the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies's life, in a nutshell. |

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Steven Page	...	Himself
Ed Robertson	...	Himself
Jim Creeggan	...	Himself
Tyler Stewart	...	Himself
Kevin Hearn	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chris Brown	...	Himself
Jeff Goldblum	...	Himself
Zorianna Kit	...	Herself
Terry David Mulligan	...	Himself
Conan O'Brien	...	Himself
Jason Priestley	...	Himself
Andy Richter	...	Himself
Dan Seaver	...	Himself (Portland, ME Scenes)
Jon Stewart	...	Himself
Moses Znaimer	...	Himself

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Nettfilms

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Grosse Pointe: Barenaked in America (#1.12)" (2001)

mediocre look at really talented artists

I must say that I was disapointed with this film. I have never been a huge BNL fans, I find their songs kind of childish and obsessively nostalgic (this is me in grade 9, if i had a million dollars, shoe box of life etc). However, I have seen clips of their live show and I really like the improvisational and goofy nature of the show. I was hoping that this movie would highlight this which is, unfortunately, the most interesting part of the show because their music is well played yet somehow bland and not that compelling (there is a standup bass solo in the middle which was completely pointless and boring, despite how much Jim Creegan was digging himself). The film does not and shows only a few minutes of it (and you know they've had better moments, as in the Afgahnistan concert "Koffee Anan, he's the man in charge, my name's Steve Paige and I'm really large") .

BNL are kind of like when I went to Europe a few years ago and heard that godawfull "Blue" song by Effeil 99 or whatever every 2 minutes, I came back to Canada and then a month later that song was all over the place *again*, I nearly chewed off my own arm. BNL is like that, years ago I remember many a fond memory of sitting around campfires in Canada listening to people play "If I had a million dollars". BNL was a cult phenomenon in Canada, and much of their humour has a particular Canadian slant to it (Kraft Dinner is a staple for many students up here, and the name "Gordon" is quintessentially Canadian) a few years went by where they slipped into obscurity and I was somewhat gratefull. Then all of a sudden they become huge in States, and everyone down there thinks they are this brand new band (yeah, they're brand new, but they're all in their 30's!) while the rest of Canada is going "Oh geez, I thought those guys folded years ago, do I have to listen to 'million dollars' again?"

The concert footage is not bad, but I would have liked to have seen more of their stage routine, the shooting is not that great, and things like clips from their massive free show in Boston are glazed over much too quickly. The interviews are surprisingly dull for such a funny bunch of guys, I think they're all old and they have families and houses and stuff and have settled down a bit. There are times when they go into Spinal Tap type of material, where they deliver deadpan satire, then they break into laughs and giggles that kind of ruins it. The interviews with Moses Znaimer (a Canadian media mogule) and Terry David Mulligan (Music dude) are extremely pretentious and verge into Tap territory unintentionally.

This movie doesn't really document very much either, I mean, it's basically one show and at the start of the film, they are already huge and have a massive touring entourage, it's not like we see them rising from obscurity and "surprise" they are popular, it's a methodically planned out event, so in the end it's rather lifeless, kind of half live concert, half documentary, and not much of either.