It isn't a disciplined doco, and the fragmentation of the throughline makes for occasional sags in the film, but the filmmakers mean well.
Shut Up & Sing (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:117
Fresh:105
Rotten:12
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: Though ostensibly an intimate look at the Dixie Chicks after their 2003 anti-Bush remark, the film achieves broader relevance by exploring how media, politics, and celebrities intertwine.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
US Box Office: $1,072,805
Synopsis: This documentary captures the female country-&-western group the Dixie Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. While performing in 2003, singer Natalie... This documentary captures the female country-&-western group the Dixie Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. While performing in 2003, singer Natalie Maines ignited a maelstrom of controversy and red-state outrage when she declared--from a London stage on the eve of the Iraqi conflict--that she was ashamed that President George W. Bush was from her home state of Texas. When a rabidly right-wing group picked up on it, the band found themselves in the center of controversy regarding the nature of patriotism, freedom of speech, feminism, and the split between pro- and anti-war Americans. Filmmaker Barbara Kopple brings us the fly-on-the-wall view of the next three years, capturing Haines and sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire in dressing rooms, on stage, and in recording studios, bonding with each other, their families, producer Rick Rubin, and their supportive manager, Simon Renshaw. Through the crises, they keep their sense of humor and sisterhood, not backing down from their liberal stance, and turning the backlash into a triumph. They also make some great music, and the film includes plenty of riveting, intense footage of the band in performance onstage and in the studio. Among the faces appearing in archival footage are President Bush, Bill Maher, and right-wing country star Toby Keith. [More]
Starring: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Rick Rubin
Starring: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Rick Rubin, George W. Bush, Adrian Pasdar
Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Producer: David Cassidy, Claude Davies, Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Studio: Weinstein Company
Reviews for Shut Up & Sing
The film is about the way hazards force artists to rethink careers and, in some cases, do better work.
Academy Award-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple does an excellent job capturing the Chicks' thoughts, and uses judicious clips from political speeches to put Maines' off-the-cuff comment into context.
Exposing almost as much small-mindedness as Borat did, this provides food for thought as well as some darned good ditties.
The film gives us a fascinating look at how the Chicks and their bemused-yet-concerned English manager, Simon Renshaw, alternately tiptoed and blundered through the crisis.
The film is a wonderful and intelligent creation and certainly a must see for any Chicks fan that lost the faith over such an absurd and misunderstood moment of personal expression.
They make no apologies for who they are or what they've said. I may not agree with everything they say, but I admire them for their conviction and I enjoyed their movie.
Free speech and its ramifications are at the heart of "Shut Up & Sing," which recognizes that for the celebrity, engaging in a public exchange of ideas and opinions isn't always without its costs. The price can be dire.
Whether you love or hate the outspoken Maines, you've got to give her this much: She's never boring.
Shut Up & Sing teeters on the edge of deifying Maines, Maguire and her sister, banjo and guitar player Emily Robison, for their perseverance. But the film also focuses on the shrewd strategies they adopt in trying to keep their career afloat.
Directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck have fashioned a compelling and rousing film that will not only appeal to Chicks fans, but make fans of those who weren't before.
Whatever the ultimate effect on the group's career, their excursion into politics produced a wonderfully watchable movie.
The film includes this remarkable, oxymoronic revelation by Cumulus Media's Lewis Dickey, that the decision to boycott the Chicks' songs "was a collaborative decision-making process. Everybody fell in line."
...a vivid, first-hand look at the hatred and hysteria that politics can evoke.
Shut Up & Sing should be one of the great inspirational stories of our time.
You would have thought they advocated the slaughter of helpless kittens.
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