Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.
Edgar Wright's documentary on Sparks is as singular as its subject — the film mirrors the band's irreverent wit and restless creativity with kinetic editing, playful animation, and a parade of genuinely passionate celebrity testimony. Novelty scores high because the subject itself is uniquely bizarre and the filmmaking approach matches that distinctiveness with verve. Cinematography is solid but constrained by the archive-heavy nature of the material. The plot (a chronological career survey) is conventional for a music doc, and the ending, while affectionate, doesn't land with particular force. Acting is not applicable in a traditional sense but the interview subjects — from Beck to Weird Al — are candid and entertaining without being exceptional.