Punk Like Me
Year: 2006
Grade: C
Country: USA
Director: Merck
ReviewSCREENED AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL, WORLD PREMIERE
documentary about yuppie filmmaker zach merck who sets out to live his dream of becoming a rock star. he finagles his way into a spot on the warped tour under the premise that he’s a gonzo journalist who wants to do a story on the tour for rolling stone magazine. he forms an admittedly shitty punk band named carne asada and hits the road with wife in tow. by the strictest sense him and his posse are touring, but they’re living in such relative comfort and luxury that it’s sort of a joke. as the tour progresses he grapples with his ideas of what being a rock star means, missing his daughter, the rigors of the road, and his disappointment with his band’s performance. he quickly finds that his initial notion that he’d have no problem with being part of a shitty band was flawed. the band and he discover that they can’t live with being shitty and set out to have at least one decent performance. merck constructs a happy ending and all is well.
stylistically the film was too mtv for my taste. cheesy animations, too much voice-over, and a faux punk aesthetic marred the film. philosophically i felt that his wealth and connections allowed him to too easily purchase his experience. he foots the bill for all his bandmates, they rent a massive tour bus, they never run out of alcohol, and his hollywood resume (which is absent on imdb) allows him to too easily acquire a spot on the tour. merck ends the film with some thoughts on what he learned in his journey which can be essentially summed as: touring is hard work and i respect anyone who does it, and connecting with the audience is a great rush, but i like family life more. don’t get me wrong, the guy seems nice enough, his antics are fairly funny, and he’s pretty ballsy for being the lead singer in a punk band when he can’t sing for shit and for conning his way onto the tour, but the film is mainly just fluffy reality entertainment.
Watched in theater Watched on TV