User reviews

Overlong yet passionate biopic of one grotesque Los Angeles punk band, The Football Moms, unfolds with equal amounts of sincerity and indulgence. If you enjoy the sloppy, downtrodden lives found in Paul Morrisey/John Waters movies, writer-director Aaron Stielstra supplies these and demented, colorful montages which add imagination to what could be another rise-and-fall story. The movie's soundtrack belches lots of surprises, including the 1989 hit "Old People Sex" as well as incidental music which runs the gauntlet of slasher movie synthesizers and dissonant compositions of dysphoria to match all the dysfunction onscreen. The movie also says more about the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles, chronic alcoholism and depression than most documentaries. Not as graphic as your average GG Allin story, but makes up for it with a lot of goopy, wet despair. Even if the movie's protagonist possesses nary an iota of rock n' roll charisma, the performances are stunning all around. Director Stielstra presents a broad canvas of deviant energy not to be missed.