A Major Disappointment

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Outstanding documentary. The story of Shep Gordon, a man who, while a brilliant agent in the entertainment industry, is relatively unknown to most people, despite exerting incredible influence in the music and movie industries. Moreover, his personality goes against the image we have of agents, in that he is not just about the money but shows genuine compassion and friendship.The amount of stars in his sphere of influence, and as friends, is amazing.Incredibly well made by Mike Myers, in his directorial debut. He painstaking compiled stills and footage of Gordon for the movie. Some scenes are dramatized but these are generally very humorously done, giving the movie an (appropriate) light-hearted tone.Not just a story of a man, pretty much a "how to" manual on publicity. He was a genius at marketing.Surely one of the best documentaries ever made.

. . . as Chicken Little used to say. Film director Michael Myers gets a bunch of his buddies to pay homage on-screen to 21st Century Hawaii's version of 20th Century Paris' Gertrude Stein. However, unlike Stein's salon for intellectuals, what the denizens of Hollywood producer\music artist manager Shep Gordon have in common is that almost ALL of them are filthy rich. They can personally thank Gordon for much of their lucre, as well as their fame. Unfortunately, Gordon himself has been at the forefront of blurring the line between fame and infamy during the past 50 years. As he observes toward the end of SUPERMENSCH, "There's nothing I've ever seen in my life with Fame that's healthy--it makes it hard to survive." This film makes frequent references to ill-fated Gordon intimates, including Janis Joplin, Jimmi Hendrix, and Teddy Pendergrass. The other constant themes are Gordon's thwarted obsession to have a biological child of his own (who could inherit his "$20 million" digs on Maui), and Bad Karma (which he attempts to ward off by sleeping in the same bed his role model the Dalai Lama reclined in at a New York City luxury hotel). All this is enough to prompt viewers to shout at the screen, "But hey, Shep, WHOSE idea was it for Alice Cooper to start slaughtering defenseless chickens on-stage as part of his "act"??!

Mike Myers is a man who has made me laugh probably more than anyone else, and often just when I needed it. As it turns out he's also an excellent filmmaker. He has great timing, a passion for archival research, and clever interviewing skills. While displaying these prodigious gifts, he has managed to make one of the most disappointing documentaries I've ever seen. Supermensch is laid out like a reverse court case. Instead of prosecutor trying to show that someone is nasty, this movie tries to convince viewers that the subject of the film, Mr. Gordon, is a good guy. We hear endless testimonials from some of Hollywood's most famous stars. Family members tear up trying to describe their love for Mr. Gordon. We see that he has achieved fabulous wealth. We are supposed to leave thinking that in all his life, Gordon has never unfairly hurt anyone. It defies belief.The documentarian went into this project as a promoter, rather than a reporter. So we never hear from the ex-wives, the angry ex-clients, the venue managers who had to negotiate with Gordon. We hear from Myers and Gordon that their first interaction was a pretty tough negotiation. It's hard to believe he has never been dickier. We hear that he was a womanizer and wore a T-shirt that said, "No head, no backstage pass." Maybe that was just a joke. Maybe not. We don't know. It would be nice to ask around...except that it might burst the bubble. Can't have that. Right at the beginning, he says he tells clients that if he does his job perfectly he will probably kill them. This is interesting! But we are never told why he says that. Does he feel responsible for the deaths of his early clients? Who knows, such complexity has no place in this film. The same goes for the film's minor characters. So Jimi Hendrix told him to be a manager because he is Jewish? WTF does being Jewish have to do with it? Who knows, this movie isn't here to expose stereotypes.Because the film is trying so hard, it made me start to wonder about the motives of those giving positive evaluations. Are they being honest? Or is there some other reason for their effusiveness? The family members in particular are a bit too much like Regan and Goneril for my taste.It's not like showing the darker side of the main character would make us like him less. To the contrary, in the same theatre, I recently saw another documentary about a real supermensch: The Grand Budapest Hotel. By showing characters fail, that movie succeeds at showing the heroes' true resiliency and grace. In the end, I felt like Myers was learning the documentary craft with this movie. I hope so. He has skills, and it would be a delight if he were to apply them to a topic where he was less of a partisan, and was instead genuinely curious about the full story. I can't imagine what was the archives and research budget for this movie. There are so many worthy documentaries waiting to be completed for lack of money, it is a bit sad to see so many resources poured into a movie that doesn't even seem to be pursuing the truth.Maybe someday.

You know that famous line from, Almost Famous, "I am a golden god!"? That quote pretty much sums up the life and times of Shep Gordon, a would be prison guard turned drug dealer turned one of the most famous managers to some of the biggest musicians of their day. You know that scene from Almost Famous where the plane is going down, and the bandmates blurt out confessions? Shep Gordon was on that plane and so was Cameron Crowe, when he put that true outrageous moment into the movie. Shep Gordon's life is one very outrageous movie and now Mike Myers, in his directorial debut, turns it into a good time love letter and at times, moving documentary movie.More than outrageous, Shep is a legend in his excess of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Not one to miss an opportunity with the ladies, he would wear a t-shirt on tour that said, "No head, no backstage pass". But the magic of this film, something that Myers didn't craft on accident, is that the biggest legend of Shep's excess was the capacity of his heart. A kind and very generous man, Shep was every famous person's best friend because, unlike 99% of the music managers with their slimy reputation, he had the biggest heart in the room. After being ostrasized by the fellow prison guards because of his big unkempt hairstyle, Shep found himself holed up in a Hollywood hotel. That hotel turned out to be the infamous Landmark Motor Hotel selling drugs to none other than Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix. When Shep knew the heat would catch up to him sooner than later, he stepped away from dealing and got the idea from Hendrix to start managing music. "You're a Jew aren't you? You should manage music", and that's how it all started. Shep's first client was Alice Cooper, and they've been inseparable since. Even many, many, years and famous clients later, when Shep decided to retire he didn't retire from his best friend Cooper.It was with Cooper that Shep improvised press out of thin air turning Cooper into a star. Shep was a very adaptable manager who had a diversity of clients that spanned the hard rock stylings of Cooper, to the R&B Teddy Pendergrass, to the Canadian country good girl Anne Murray. He reached beyond music with many film producing credits, and when he became infatuated with the culinary arts, he represented the greatest chef's in the world, inventing the celebrity chef (Emeril Legasse among many others). The insight into each of these clients is truly wild and usually ended up with a happy ending; Pendergrass ending up a mixed bag tale.And while we could listen to Shep's wild tales and conquests forever, Myer's gets us deep access into his personal life, never letting us forget that this is a good human being who really made a difference in so many lives. His want for offspring keeps surfacing throughout. The mix of his earlier promiscuous life with his self sacrificial motivation to bring all of his clients everything they could ever want has left him without an heir to the Gordon empire. Shep gets closest to being a dad when tragedy strikes as an old girlfriend's grandchildren lose their mother and he comes to the rescue not only wildly financially but also as a loving father figure. That selfless deed is where the true legend of Shep Gordon lies, a supermensch, aka a superman."this" selfless deed is where the true legend of Shep Gordon lies, a supermensch, aka a superman.Matthew 7:12