Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) (2002)

Director:

AJ Schnack

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot:

Documentary about the music group They Might Be Giants.

Plot Keywords:

Interview | Band | Music Video | Rock Band | Concert Footage

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Flansburgh	...	Himself
John Linnell	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gina Arnold	...	Herself
Michael Azerrad	...	Himself
Adam Bernstein	...	Himself
David Bither	...	Himself
Frank Black	...	Himself
Linwood Boomer	...	Himself
Brian Cohen	...	Himself
Patrick Dillett	...	Himself (as Pat Dillett)
Sue Drew	...	Herself
Dave Eggers	...	Himself
Jake Fogelnest	...	Himself
Joe Franklin	...	Himself
Janeane Garofalo	...	Herself
Ira Glass	...	Himself
Jonathan Gregg	...	Himself
Dan Hickey	...	Himself (Drums)
Kurt Hoffman	...	Himself
Mark Hoppus	...	Himself
Al Houghton	...	Himself
John Houlihan	...	Himself
William Ingoglia
Mike Kelly	...	Himself
Jamie Lincoln Kitman	...	Himself (as Jamie Kitman)
Josh Kornbluth	...	Himself
Bill Krauss	...	Himself
Robert Krulwich	...	Himself
Michael McKean	...	Himself
Dan Miller	...	Himself (Guitar)
Glenn Morrow	...	Himself
Alex Noyes	...	Himself
Conan O'Brien	...	Himself
Annette O'Toole	...	Herself (voice)
Gary Ray	...	Himself
Andy Richter	...	Himself
Raoul Rosenberg	...	Himself
Harry Shearer	...	Himself
Paul Simon	...	Himself
Michael Small	...	Himself
Jim Stabile	...	Himself
Jon Stewart	...	Himself
Syd Straw	...	Herself
They Might Be Giants	...	Themselves
Sarah Vowell	...	Herself
Danny Weinkauf	...	Himself (Bass)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Bonfire Films of America

Trivia:

Annette O'Toole narrates a letter in the film during one of the film's "history" sequences, and did the research herself. She had been out of town filming "Smallville" (2001) when the director came to film her husband, Michael McKean.

Quotes:

Ira Glass: How sad for them that they're actually in the band. And so for them to hear that sound they actually have to make it themselves.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "The Civil War" (1990)

Soundtrack:

The End of the Tour

Documentary? I think not!

Definition of documentary: A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration. The key word here is informative. I love They Might Be Giants, and barely learned a thing about them.

The interviews with all the celebrities were pretty much worthless. I don't care what Sarah Vowel thinks of anybody and Syd Straw was downright irritating. And is listening to people recite TMBG lyrics like they were supposed to be funny/interesting? It was neither. I think that was the problem: the movie spends time discussing TMBG's love for coffee. So what?? Millions of people love coffee. Was the presentation of the material funny? No! There were hints that both men are married, yet it was never discussed. And what about the solo material they did? What motivated them to do it? These type of questions are not addressed nor answered.

I could go on and on with the negatives. I did find the segment on Dial-a-Song very interesting. If you want to learn about They Might Be Giants, just buy a few CD's and listen. Seriously. This movie is a gigantic disappointment. I can't believe so many folks gave it a 10. Incredible.