Belushi

(RECOMMENDED) There is more tragedy than joy in J. R. Cutler's sad yet entertaining documentary about comedian John Belushi. The movie effectively shows his life story in fragments, although it seems unnecessarily more hyperactive than the man himself, if that is possible. Audio tapes, photos, and many interviews with famous friends and loved ones are interspersed with his personal letters, stylized animation, and home videos. The highs are there as well as the low of his short life in this well-researched film. (He died at the age of 33.) Classic bits from his films and SNL skits are evidence of his unique talent and make his loss even more poignant as the documentary strangely builds to a powerful indictment about the perils of instant fame, fortune, and excessive drug abuse. Ultimately, Belushi is a loving testament to a comic icon whose legend lasted longer than his brief but memorable career. (GRADE: B)

Patched together from archival tapes, pictures, letters and infused with remarkably sharp animated sequences - Belushi is a meticulously researched and intensely personal portrait of a man. As a legacy - it's likely his films will define him better than this necessarily will - but this does a rather comprehensive job of contextualizing him, humanizing him. To realise he died at my exact age now gave the endeavor a rather existential sheen which I wasn't necessarily expecting although the relentless focus accidentally allows his many allies to fall into his wake a little. Poor Ackroyd, poor Judy, poor Carrie. Either way though, a remarkable achievement - and a really beautifully crafted piece of work.

Pretty darn good. Recommend you see it, even if you never cared about John Belushi before today. Its mostly audio clips with still photos, and these neat little cartoons drawn to match the audio clips. They never do the standard "guy in chair talking to invisible interviewer" and thats a nice change of pace. Loads of never before seen photos and videos, and never heard audio. Brutal honest look at his whole life, not just good or bad. The documentary shares as much of his insights as it possibly can, and also the opinions and stories of friends & coworkers. It never glorifies or vilifies him which is what a good documentary is all about. Highly recommended.

The Blues Brothers is my favourite musical of all time and if I sat down and thought about it , it would probably make my all time top ten movie list and that great film was my introduction to John Belushi.

This is a documentary that uses previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi's death, It examines the too-short life of a unique talent who captured the hearts and funny bones of devoted audiences.

What I like about this film is that it's isn't a bunch of talking heads , reminiscing about John Belushi and blowing smoke up his arse . These are tapes recorded not long after his death from the people who really knew him.

They are played over hundreds of pictures and Video clips and letters that he wrote to his wife . There is some brilliant animation that tells some of Belushi's story and it works really well.

It's a tragic film in many ways because he never received any professional help for his addictions and that's rare . Even the most famous addicts tried some sort of rehab but not John .

I wasn't lucky enough to see the early part of his career. Mainly because i was too young and secondly, Saturday Night Live has never been shown on British TV . This film gives a great glimpse into the man and how a fantastic talent was ruined by drugs .

This is probably my favourite documentary film of 2020.

This documentary is an original way of interviewing colleagues, friends and family about James Belushi, an uncontrollable force in acting, who exploded onto the American tv screens in the seventies and exploded he did.

The good: the way this documentary is told is insightful and illustrative, mixing lots of phone conversations with friends of Belushi with lots of rare footage.

More good: Belushi deserves to have such a documentary dedicated to him, because he was (however short lived) an unique actor.

Any bad? Not any documentary beats watching James Belushi acting in movies and in old tv shows. Simply search Imdb for the few, but great, contributions Belushi made to the American cinema. Yes, it was pulp, but it was the best pulp one could dream of...