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Movies / Upcoming / Shut Up & Sing
Shut Up & Sing

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Shut Up & Sing (2006)

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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

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Reviews for Shut Up & Sing

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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It isn't a disciplined doco, and the fragmentation of the throughline makes for occasional sags in the film, but the filmmakers mean well.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
07/20/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
07/20/07
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film is about the way hazards force artists to rethink careers and, in some cases, do better work.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
12/01/06
Charlotte Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/27/06
Angel Cohn
Angel Cohn
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Exposing almost as much small-mindedness as Borat did, this provides food for thought as well as some darned good ditties.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
06/29/07
Anna Smith
Anna Smith
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
10/27/06
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

The intimate, fly-on-the-wall context is what's most winning.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
11/16/06
Bob Townsend
Bob Townsend
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
11/02/06
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

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.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
12/27/06
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

... an intimate, if flawed, portrait of the unrepentant band ...

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
11/16/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

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.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
09/14/07
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Whether you love or hate the outspoken Maines, you've got to give her this much: She's never boring.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
11/17/06
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

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.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
10/27/06
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Associated Press

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.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
10/26/06
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Whatever the ultimate effect on the group's career, their excursion into politics produced a wonderfully watchable movie.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/16/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

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."

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
12/21/06
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

...a vivid, first-hand look at the hatred and hysteria that politics can evoke.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
10/27/06
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

Shut Up & Sing should be one of the great inspirational stories of our time.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
11/06/06
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine

You would have thought they advocated the slaughter of helpless kittens.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
11/20/06
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

...as divisive as George Bush himself.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
12/18/06
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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