Truth is stranger than fiction, and often makes a better story, too.
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
A fascinating and well-executed hybrid: combining musical biopic and political examination to produce something more memorable than either would be on its own.
What emerges is something of a cautionary tale for artistsand should spark discussions about exactly what the principles of free speech as guaranteed in the Constitution mean.
[It]offer[s] little more than a portrait of a band struggling to save face and keep their financial position intact.
something more than just The Real World with platinum CDs and a twang
The film captures plenty of behind-the-scenes banter and plenty of music, but it doesn't really dig very deeply into the frightening mob mentality that followed the comment.
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.
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."
Shut up & Sing is a primer on how controversy and pop music are manufactured.
Remember the people that the Borat film made fun of? They're in this film too, picketing outside of Dixie Chick shows...idiots.
The film — a likely Oscar nominee — inspires with its story of loyalty and determination within the group.
In today's polarized America, you pick who you stand with, even in pop culture. Kopple's film makes that choice stark...
While Shut Up works great as music doc, progressive pep rally and neo-Capra triumph tale, it’s even better as a bighearted tale of the love between three extraordinary women.
"Shut Up & Sing" evolves into an engrossing sociological study about brand perception, the fickle nature of fame, the perils of spiraling media mayhem, and de facto censorship spawning from industrywide groupthink.
We come to realize to what extent Natalie Maines ranks as an American heroine.
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