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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 rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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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

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
11/25/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment 1 Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

These two movies — one about family and one about freedom — never quite dovetail.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
11/17/06
Andrew Lewicky
Andrew Lewicky
Houston Chronicle

I came round to them by the end, but it's not a great introduction.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
06/29/07
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

In watching the documentary Shut Up & Sing, one thought comes to mind. We all may be over the Dixie Chicks.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
11/16/06
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

The film suffers from its non-linear approach to the subject.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
11/25/06
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The most inspiring element of the film is the genuine fortitude and loyalty that Maines and her bandmates Emily Robinson and Martie Maguire exhibit outwardly and to one another.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/24/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

this thing needs more music and less politics

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment 6 Comments
10/20/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

[It]offer[s] little more than a portrait of a band struggling to save face and keep their financial position intact.

Full Review Source: Scene-Stealers.com | comment Comment
01/11/07
Eric Melin
Eric Melin
Scene-Stealers.com

Something the movie fails to consider: that it's possible to have a low opinion of both the Iraq war and Mains' actions in London.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
11/17/06
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

The drama suffers: The Dixie Chicks don't provide a rebellious force to rise against the inanity they faced.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
11/13/06
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Part vanity project, part image rehabilitation.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment 1 Comment
10/19/06
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

Despite the promise to turn the audience into converts if they’ve never heard the music before, listening to the Dixie Chicks is, to me, not unlike metal spikes scraped across a sidewalk grating.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment 2 Comments
11/01/06
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer

It was a throwaway scrap of a comment tossed to an audience baying with appreciation.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
06/29/07
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
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
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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