Director Report Card: Spike Jonze (2020)

5. Beastie Boys Story

Spike Jonze has always been highly involved with the music world. He’s directed so many music videos over the years that his film directing career really can be considered a side-gig to his music video career. Of his many fruitful collaborations over the years, his relationship with the Beastie Boys is probably his most important. “Sabotage” is, and with good reason, widely considered one of the greatest music videos of all time. The longtime friendship with the band resulted in Jonze co-authoring the "Beastie Boys Book," a definitive history of the group. Last year, the two surviving boys - Michael "Mike D." Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz - did a series of live shows as a companion piece to the book, which Jonze also directed. Earlier this year, a filmed version of the final performance of "Beastie Boys Story" would be released to Apple TV, technically making it his first feature film in seven years. 

"Beastie Boys Story" has the influential white boy hip-hop/alternative band - or at least two-thirds of it - recounting the history of the act in their own words. Following the death of Adam "MCA" Yauch in 2014 from cancer, the group officially disbanded. As a homage to their fallen friend, the remaining Boys and Jonze put together a series of live stage shows, of the two sharing memories, stories, images, and videos with a packed audience. "Beastie Boys Story" is edited from several of these shows, with lots of other goodies included. 

A filmed stage show probably doesn't sound like the most cinematic experience. And it's true that "Beastie Boys Story" is mostly composed of Diamond and Horovitz standing on a stage, in front of a large video screen, and talking to an audience. However, given Jonze's involvement and the Boys' rebellious spirit, some fun touches are included. The guys interact with the on-screen clips and animations. A recreation of the band's home-made playback machine is carted out. Jonze himself yells at the stage during several faux technical problems. It's more than just people talking on a stage, at the very least.

What most makes "Beastie Boys Story" worth seeing is the clear brotherhood between these guys. While they recite prepared speeches from teleprompters for most of the show, there are a number of more off-the-cuff moments. When a clip from Ad-Rock's ill-fated attempt at acting is shown, Mike has it played back several times for extra chances at mocking it. More than once, one of the guys will flub a line, leading to joking around and light-hearted mockery. It's obvious these two have been friends most of their lives. Watching that friendship play out is certainly quite entertaining. 

I'll admit, I'm far from a Beastie Boys aficionado. Yeah, I watched and enjoyed the "Sabotage" and "Intergalactic" videos. But I haven't heard anything but the big hits, your "Brass Monkey"s and so forth. So "Beastie Boys Story" was a deep education in the band's history for me. I had no idea that they started out as a hardcore punk band, with a cool girl drummer. The story of how three friends joking around together - one of their earliest songs was a goof track about Carvel Ice Cream's Cookiepuss mascot - slowly became a real group is fascinating. Basically, through an association with the soon-to-be head of Def-Jam Records, and because the Fat Boys weren't available for a key gig, these three jokers became a rap act and ended up rubbing shoulders with the most iconic hip-hop groups and executives of the day. 

There's a lot of good stories from these years. At Rick Rubin's insistence, the trio adopted a tough guy pro-wrestler style persona. Which was not-so-well-received in a black club or when opening for Madonna. Following the surprise success of "Fight for Your Right (To Party)" - Ad-Rock says the video was filmed in a friend's apartment - the ironic adoption of the party guy personas became more sincere. They had giant beer cans and an inflatable dick in a box in their concerts. The guys admit they drank way too much and were high too often. A featured appearance on Soul Train, where all three drunkenly converse with Don Cornelius, is pretty hilarious. 

The stories of rock star excess seem a little more good-natured than most. (The guys acknowledge the impractical side of outrageous fashion and extravagant mansion they briefly ended up with.) Because those party guy personalities were ironic. The band quickly came to resent them, forcing a creative reshuffling for their second album. Watching the Beastie Boys style and sound evolve is pretty interesting, as they embraced an increasingly eccentric mix of genres. Especially amusing is how the guys decided to learn how to actually play instruments. The musical innovations would lead to those iconic, innovative music videos... Which led to MCA pranking the MTV Music Awards when "Sabotage" was snubbed. They would even apologize for some of their sexist, early lyrics. (Ad-Rock is married to noted feminist Kathleen Hanna, by the way.) 

Ultimately, "Beastie Boys Story" is as much a way to reminisce about fallen friends as it is a celebration of the band's journey. Horovitz gets visibly choked up on several occasions, when discussing the last few years they had with the late Adam Yauch. A recollection of the last concert they performed together – of course, they didn't know it was their last concert at the time – is quite touching. They share little anecdotes about their gone friend, about his side-gig as a super in an apartment building or his sudden mastery of the upright bas. It's not the only lost friend they memorialize, as a close partner from their early days also passed away along the journey. As a story about men on the other end of their lives, having lost friends and companions, “Beastie Boys Story” is surprisingly emotional.

”Beastie Boys Story” runs about two hours, which must seem long for this kind of thing. Yet the film doesn't see much discussion about the bands last three albums, cutting the story off with 2000's “Hello Nasty.” Moreover, the film's ending is a bit abrupt. It definitely seems like “Beastie Boys Story” could've run for an hour longer. (Considering Jonze packs the end credits with additional footage, and a few celebrity cameos, there was obviously a surplus of footage left over.) As surprising as it is to say, I might not have minded that. Horovitz and Diamond are compelling presence and they tell their story with feeling, humor, and fondness. Combined with Jonze's energetic guiding hand, I came away from "Beastie Boys Story" with a much deeper appreciation of these three Jewish kids from New York City. I'll have to explore their discography more. [Grade: B]