User Reviews

A documentary about David Johansen co-directed and produced by Martin Scorsese should have easily been one of the coolest, most interesting films of the year. Johansen is probably best known for his cover of the super catchy song "Hot Hot Hot" under his alias Buster Poindexter, but he's had a much larger career both as a musician and as a fun character actor appearing in such cult favorites as Scrooged, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, and "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." Johansen himself as always been an interesting and funny personality, something made clear early on in the documentary when a clip of him telling a particularly odd story about vomit on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is featured. Unfortunately, that clip is the most amusing and captivating moment featured in the whole film and Scorsese himself is never able to capture the energy, charisma, and storytelling capabilities of Johansen in any of footage shot for the film itself. Maybe it's because Johansen is much older now or maybe it's because Johansen admits to being a reluctant documentary subject, but whatever the reason, the movie never picks up steam in a way that makes the whole picture work as a whole. There are still great individual moments, though, like Johansen admitting that "Hot Hot Hot" is the bane of his existence or him telling the story of an audition for a Milos Forman movie that went sideways. Sadly, Johansen doesn't seem to want to get into any true detail about his life or his Buster Poindexter persona. Most disappointingly, with the exception of the aforementioned Milos Forman story, his film career isn't touched on at all. In a film that runs over two hours, there seems to be very little about the man and his work other than he loves music and has been producing it a long time. This easily could have been cut down to 85 minutes or so and nothing would have been lost other than some good music. Still, for those who are curious about Johansen and Scorsese completists, this may be worth a look. It's by no means terrible, but it could have been much more. 6/10.

Even Martin Scorsese can't make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is the massively overrated David Johansen, who never was a great singer and now is much worse. Built around an embarrassingly bad performance from the Big Apple's Cafe Carlyle, the film is nonetheless worth seeing for footage of the New York Dolls performing on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and The Old Grey Whistle Test. It's unfortunate Johansen is the last Doll standing - both Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain's post-Dolls recorded legacies are far superior - but sometimes life isn't fair. If you're a Johansen fan, you'll probably love this film; others will find their patience tried.