American: The Bill Hicks Story

Excellent. Once you get past the initial weirdness of the animated presentation this really hits home. A heart ripping documentary about a truly brilliant comic and a genius. Bill Hicks stirs you up and it is in equal measures hilarious and terrifying. His death is a crime against humanity. One of the most clear sighted men who ever lived.

The animated approach is suited to this doco, putting the focus on the journey rather than just talking heads, and puts clever use to the archive of photos and video footage of Hicks to almost put us in his shoes as he rose to fame (but with the intention to actually say something) and gives blunt explanations to the many reasons for his collected, but brash and aggressive behaviour on-stage.

Bio-pics are rarely to my taste, and bio-docs are usually quite trite, this one being no exception.. It does, however, employ some interesting techniques and most certainly have directorial qualities far superior to others of the sort.. It's never diminishing or (super)idolizing of the genius, that was Bill Hicks, but is only a must-see for aficionados or people interested in his background - otherwise just stick to his brilliant routines

It's all tightpacked with praise upon praise which is an annoyance in a biopic for me. Also it is decent as a character study and made me think about the nature of stand up as a medium.

This was a pretty cool documentary. He was a truly funny comic but more importantly, he was very intelligent. He spoke truths that very few people dared to. It's such a shame that he died so young.

This movie really sucks. Bill Hicks was a good stand up, but if you're familiar with his work there's really nothing in this but boring biographical data.

He was a great comic, but not really someone to make a great biopic out of.

Not a bad look into Bill Hicks by any means. That's all it tries to be, except they use an interesting (though sometimes off-putting) visual style. A good documentary for a brilliant comedian.

Dissapointing documentary that lacks the bite, snarl and creative intelligence that made Bill Hick's comedy so unique.

This was a cool doc but as someone who doesn't know much about Hicks I was hoping for a little more on his later years and what his act turned into and why that still resonates with people today. But the story of his life as a whole is still very interesting.

The moving stills was a nice visual theme for the youth phase, they could have shifted into something new instead of staying the entire show. Made by people too sympathetic to really kick a table over and get into the grit of the comedy trail and his various vices. But in saying that, it allowed the final segment to have a truly personal touch.

Good because of the man, not the filmmaking. It's just the straightforward story of his life, nothing creative except for some of the visual techniques. It seemed like they wanted me to care about the man, I wanted to care about the ideas.

Bill Hicks was in effect a stirrer - but a thinking one at that - so what you get is a melting pot of different emotional responses to his antics. I, for one, enjoyed the majority of his words on stage and so I went to see this biographical documentary out an interest to learn a bit more about his life and hopefully gain a little insight into his world. For the most part it was enjoyable and by the end of it I felt we'd explored some guys life with the option to revere that or not on you...

The animation was generally effective in keeping the pace (rather than merely annoying, as it often proves to be with these things). Bill gets awfully vituperative for a self-appointed Prophet of Love, but he always manages to find some winsomely humorous way out of that cul de sac, so it's alright.

Too many transitions. Felt like watching a very long bad tv special. It's a shame, because it told a good story of a brilliant man.

Reeks of having one last desperate grab at a piece of a dead friend's fame. I found the visual style awful, and considering who's the subject, the moralizing about alcohol and the all-important need to get one's career on track is ludicrous. Just watch Bill Hicks' recorded shows instead to see what he was about.

Well made piece... lots of background information given by family and friends about this great comedian... one of the greatest....

"The vitriolic comedian's career gets a photo-animated documentary treatment which drowns out his voice with a chorus of friends and family." - Bill Weber

Excellent.

Go read AMERICAN SCREAM instead.

There's no real sense of time regarding Bill Hicks' life and the documentary's shift from the man to the comedy near the end was a shame. It would have been interesting to hear how a man like Hicks dealt with death turning from an abstract concept to inevitable reality. That said, it isn't bad but it feels like it fell far short of it's potential.

I don't know why I care now for this man's comedy and story. But the film made me shed a tear for him.

Brilliant comedian, average documentary.

a buoyant honoring of a one-of-a-kind voice in comedy