Where I Watched it: MAX

English Audio Description?: Yes

As fun as this would be to have this be the long awaited sequel to Being john Malkovich, it’s just one of many celebrity centric documentaries being released this year. Whether you wanted to learn more about Pamela Anderson, Michael j Fox, Judy Blume, or Mary Tyler moore, celebrities are all the rage these days. There’s even a Rock Hudson doc coming later this month.

But with this constant flow comes the ability to figure out which ones achieve the most with what they’ve got. michael j Fox’s career was seamlessly blended into his Parkinson’s battle, with an honest look at both the highs and lows of being an actor on the rise, and also an advocate for Parkinson’s research. Judy Blume Forever gave us not just a look at Blume, through her own words, and adoration from those she influenced, but it wove into the fabric a conversation about banning books. Pamela’s Netflix doc gave her the opportunity to talk about her life in an open and honest way, since so many believed Pam and Tommy on Hulu was the best representation.

This really just compiles Moore’s previous interviews, and talks about her life from the beginning to the end. It is a really straight forward film, and for a lot of people who don’t know who she is, or why she mattered, because they are twelve, this movie works. For the rest, it’s just a nice stroll down memory lane featuring their favorite girl who made it after all.

It doesn’t feel like a directorial achievement, but more like an assignment that someone did a good job with in the editing room. As with most documentaries, the problem with talking presents issues for the narrator. Often Moore is talking, and we don’t know how or where. Sometimes, we get a clip from a movie or TV show, without mention of what it is from. If you were hoping for a detailed description of Moore’s iconic looks and fashion choices, this narration really doesn’t have the time. It does its best to keep us appraised with intermittent bursts of description where it can, but there are not a lot of silent sequences in this.

I think for the most part, it’s a fine documentary. But in a year where Judy Blume and Michael j Fox made stronger documentaries, one that is here just to commemorate the existence of a person, without being able to talk about how they used their powers for good, it just feels like this one is meant for the fans. They got this one in just in time too, because most of the people who remember her on the Dick Van Dyke Show were, shall we say, unavailable for comment.

Final Grade: B+