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Review: Broadway Idiot

October 30, 2013 at 6:00 am by Ray Pride

Ray Pride by Ray Pride
October 30, 2013October 24, 2013Filed under:
  • Documentary
  • Musical

where the cast experienced the mosh pit first handDoug Hamilton’s clear-cut “Broadway Idiot” errs on the side of holding back on uninterrupted performance footage, likely to enable an eventual filming of Billie Joe Armstrong’s successful Broadway adaption of Green Day’s “American Idiot” album. Hamilton also skimps on deep thought, letting figures say things instead of the film showing them: “Billie Joe, just like all of us, has his dark side,” a key collaborator coos, “the side that’s self-destructive, manipulative, charismatic but dangerous to himself and others!” Odd devices are scattered throughout, as in completely fake newspaper clippings from the show’s positive reviews and slowing down non-interview footage. Still, the process of transformation from album to musical is neatly if shallowly sketched and the music’s energy could wake up those who expected more. 80m. (Ray Pride)

“Broadway Idiot” opens Friday, November 1 at the Music Box.

Ray Pride

Author: Ray Pride

Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic, editor of Movie City News and a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine. He is also a photographer: his history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” in words and images is forthcoming. Check a few signs on Twitter (@chighostsigns) as well as daily photography on Instagram (instagram.com/raypride). Twitter: @RayPride. (Photo: Jorge Colombo.)

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Related

Tagged:
  • American Idiot
  • Billie Joe Armstrong
  • Broadway Idiot
  • Doug Hamilton
  • Green Day

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