A Fat Wreck (2016)

This feature length documentary film follows the early history of Fat Wreck Chords, from its founding by Fat Mike and his then wife Erin Burkett, through its cultural zenith in the late 1990's.

Director:

Shaun Colon

Stars:

Fat Mike, Erin Burkett, Joey Cape

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Fat Mike	...	Himself
Erin Burkett	...	Herself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joey Cape	...	Himself
Laura Jane Grace	...	Herself
Ryan Greene	...	Himself
Chris Hannah	...	Himself
Jason Heller	...	Himself
Kevin Lyman	...	Himself
Chris Shiflett	...	Himself
Joe Sib	...	Himself

Storyline

Fat Wreck Chords... The influential music label proud to say they've spent the past 25 years "ruining punk rock". A Fat Wreck tells the story of founders Fat Mike (of the legendary punk band NOFX) and his ex-wife Erin Kelly-Burkett, spanning the birth, growth, struggles, and survival of the Fat Wreck Chords label. Half inspirational story of chosen family and community, half debauchery and occasionally involuntary drug use... A Fat Wreck blazes exciting new ground in the cinematic genre of puppet-driven punk rock music documentary filmmaking. If you only see one film featuring a dominatrix spanking a puppet in your lifetime... Make it A Fat Wreck!

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 February 2017 (Japan)

Box Office

Budget:

$685,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Open Ended Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

A bunch of stories, but no real through line

A Fat Wreck tries to give a quick history of Fat Wreck Chords as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. Having grown up and listened to a fair bit of the artists initially signed to Fat the subject matter seemed like it would appeal to me.

It quickly becomes apparent that this isn't a documentary so much as it is a bunch of guys sitting around and telling stories about how they got signed to Fat and why it's awesome. It's not that the stories aren't entertaining (for the most part they are), or that the interviewees are boring (they're not), but it gets repetitive after a while. It's more or less the same format for the first 2/3 of the movie. Band A was discovered, released X number of albums, had this and that to say about Fat Mike and Fat records, move on to band B.

There's not enough in there about the current state of Fat, the current bands or anything like that. In fact, outside of the first 10 years of the label, very little attention is paid to other groups, almost unfairly.

The subject matter may have made for a better book, with the ability to absorb in small chunks of anecdotes than as a documentary.