Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Supermensch documents the astounding career of Hollywood insider, the loveable Shep Gordon, who fell into music management by chance after moving to LA straight out of college, and befriending Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. Shep managed rock stars such as Pink Floyd, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass and Alice Cooper, and later went on to manage chefs such as Emeril Lagasse, ushering in the era of celebrity chefs on television.
Supermensch is a warm, entertaining documentary portrait of Shep Gordon, directed by Mike Myers, whose genuine affection for his subject gives the film a charming, anecdote-driven energy. Gordon's life is genuinely fascinating — straddling rock management and the celebrity chef revolution — and the parade of famous talking heads (Alice Cooper, Anne Murray, Michael Douglas) keeps things lively. However, the film is fairly conventional in documentary form: standard talking-head interviews, archival footage, and a hagiographic tone that rarely challenges its subject. Cinematography is serviceable but unremarkable. The ending leans into sentimentality about Gordon's loneliness and desire for family, which is touching but somewhat abrupt. Novelty is moderate — the subject is singular but the execution follows familiar music-doc conventions.