Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back

I am a massive Meat Loaf fan (all his records and movies) , and I think the documentary was OK. But there we're quite a few glitchs ; Meat Loaf did not go to acting college in 1968 , he went to be an accountant in 1966 (Meat Loaf was singing in local bands in LA in 68'!) , Meat Loaf didn't meet Jim Steinman until 1973 , and during "Hair" Meat Loaf wasn't going out with any girl named Aaron (however , he did meet Stoney in the play , and record a record with her). And to top that off , Meat Loaf didn't cut his hair short until late 96'/97' , the film shows Meat Loaf in 1994 with short hair . But the acting was top notch , all of the live performances and background songs we're Meat Loaf's vocals (except the "More Than You Deserve" tryout , and in the record company office) the show was OK and depicts what Meat Loaf went through in his career.

PS. did I mention that Meat Loaf was actually married in 1979' ? and Meat Loaf didn't begin the big American bar tour until 1987 ?

Meat Loaf is by far the greatest rock star of the 1970s 80s 90s and beyond. This movie is based on his Autobiography of the same name. Although currently available on vhs format VH1 and Paramount Pictures are bound to give in to the demand for DVD format featuring all the promotional extras that went with it. This movie is good but as I stated in my headline summary it is mixed up in some parts. Certain people places and things did or did not happen. One piece of the book I wished they had filmed was Meat Loaf driving through Arizona to California during the mid to late 1960's and picks up a hippie drifter on the highway. It turns out in the book that Meat Loaf wound up giving a ride to Charles Manson. I don't know how fans of Meat Loaf would have taken it but it would have been one of those shock moments in Meat Loafs' life where everyone would have gone WHOOOOOAAAA dude that was unreal.

If you have seen the "Behind the Music" type things on Meat Loaf, there was not much surprise here, but it was a good show. The music spanned years, and is as good now as it was then. The acting was better than I expected, and there was nothing about the story that seemed completely blown out of proportion. If you like Meat Loaf, I recommend catching it the next time it is on.

I just watched the movie on VH1, and toward the very end of the movie, I thought I saw Meatloaf himself in the audience at the Cancer benefit. Were my eyes deceiving me, or did he have a brief cameo in the movie? All in all, I thought it was a good show. Granted, I did notice the mountains in the background in "Dallas County", and wondered at certain lines in the movie (re: Rocky Horror- "Nobody will watch this, they'll only throw things at the screen"), but since I've been a meatloaf fan since "BOH" #1 came out, the minor flaws and the little extras were just that, minor, and didn't distract from the main story enough to ruin the movie.

This docudrama starts with MeatLoaf (W. Earl Brown) as a kid growing up in Dallas 1958. He's a fat kid with a sick mother and a drunken abusive father. He's bullied by the school kids. He played high school football, and got into drama. He strikes out for Hollywood after the death of his mother eventually connecting with composer Jim Steinman (Zachary Throne) and future wife Leslie Edmonds (Dedee Pfeiffer). But old demons continue to haunt him.

I wouldn't say this is good drama. There are highlights, and the movie is checking off one highlight after another. There is even a 'The Voice' moment as Jim Steinman turns around and shockingly finds the chubby man with the Wagner voice. Brown does a great job impersonating MeatLoaf. I'm sure he got the job for his striking resemblance but they got a great actor to boot. He's the only one saving this from being a hopelessly bland docudrama.