User reviews

If I was giving the keys to direct a semi-true story about how David Bowie found his footing in the music world, I would never have taken this approach. What a buzz kills. You know you are going to get a slew of rabid Bowie fans to watch this; why make it look like Bowie is a stupid quack. I can't imagine much of this story is based on true events. Perhaps he had some struggles getting his music footing so don't spend 90% of the movie on that and leave your audience not excited about Bowie's rise to Fame; pun intended! There wasn't even any music or early tracks to hear even if they weren't big hits. This did try to paint a picture about Bowie's humble beginnings and how hard it was to reach stardom in America. And how he struggling to find himself in real life and trying to find who he truly is as an artist. It focused on his relationship with a publicist who believed that Bowie could be big in America. All solid points to build into a story. But the main problems were these: Zero character arc.

Zero enjoyment.

Zero Bowie music.

Zero new insights learned.

Who would choose to tell this story with a miniscule payoff or leave the fans excited to play some Bowie on the drive home?

The director and producer (rarely do I call out the producer) managed to make David Bowie uninteresting, flat and devoid of magic. I tinkled in a few rating points for cinematography, lighting and acting.

I came into this with no expectations. I like David Bowie but I'm not a huge fan who knows most let alone all his music. So I wasn't watching this knowing everything about him and his music. But I actually expected some of his music to be in this, similar to Bohemian Rhapsody. This movie was boring and I found myself playing on my phone just waiting for it to end. All in all, I feel like they did a disservice to David Bowie, making him look like an idiot obsessed with becoming famous. They tried to add something deep by adding him being afraid of becoming like his brother, but it actually fell flat. There's a concert scene at the end where he finally goes on stage and the actor had zero sparkle or pizzazz or showmanship where David Bowie on stage had all of this. He literally looked like he was just laying on the stage where he's supposed to be making fierce poses. And I usually like Jena Malone but she had the worst accent in this (and wig and eyebrows) that I just couldn't stand her character. I don't think anyone making this movie recalled that she was American. Curious if the real Angie Bowie had gotten a British accent, I looked her up and she doesn't have one. So why did Jena Malone do the worst British accent in history?

How can you have a David Bowie Biopic, and not have any of his music in the film?

There are many thing wrong with this film. The most obvious one being the failure of the producers to secure the rights to Bowie's music for a film about Bowie's music. The second issue is that the story is in accurate. The film implies that until Bowie invented Ziggy he was a failure in the US until the Spiders from Mars album was out. This is false. Before Ziggy and after TMWSTW Bowie released an album called Hunky Dory which had a US hit called Changes, an FM staple called Life on Mars, and a song that changed rock and roll, called Queen B*tch. The riff of Queen B*tch is maybe the most copied riff since Chuck Berry, especially by punk and new wave bands. So the fact that this film pretends this album never existed to serve some made up story is dishonest

Third mistake is having a 60 year old Marc Marin playing a 39 years old is very distracting.

Terrible movie, Marc Bolan is a 60 year old woman in a black curly wig, Bowie looks like Noel Fielding's resurrected zombie twin. We couldn't watch it, turned it off about one third the way through, just dreadful.

I'll keep this short ... As a MASSIVE Bowie fan, I was shocked and embarrassed. David would be turning in his grave to see the utter drivel being throw out here. It belongs in a bin, a very deep bin!

They clearly went for the idea that their so-called lead actor (never heard of him btw) would look nothing like, nor sound remotely like, Bowie, alas, that's the only aspect of the film they succeeded in.

You have to applaud David's family for not wanting anything to do with this tripe !!!

It is sad when the most intriguing parts of a film are the vintage cars and hotel carpeting.

It's a shame the makers of this film ever invoked the name of David Bowie. It wasn't required by the script, and at the top of the film it is disclaimed as "mostly fiction."

Johnny Flynn as David Jones/Bowie presents an image I don't associate with Bowie: childish, kind of stupid, lacking direction or drive. We take a really long road trip with him and his road manager, and his flashbacks and daydreams add up to nothing much. I feel for Flynn. I think his role is poorly written and misdirected.

Mark Maron does a fine job as Oberman, Bowie's road manager. Perhaps the story would have been interesting told from hisp erspective -- what he saw and heard. Instead, the film tells about things it doesn't seem to know much about. It's mostly surface.

The parade of anecdotes lead nowhere, several music writers pass through to little effect.

Jena Malone delivers, but her wig is bad and distracting... and what happened to the big bump in her dress? I guess we'll never know. Nothing unites her character while pregnant with the slender post-birth iteration.

This film does not excel at complete ideas.

Well they disrespected the family and even David's will,the actor looks like Sharon Osbourne,there's no music and we never wanted this.

Sure, there's none of Bowie's music here, so if that's why you may want to watch it, don't bother. Once you're past that, it's a pretty engaging little film - Flynn is great (and we all know he really can sing; the Brel stuff is fabulous) and Marc Maron turned in a great performance.

This was a terrible movie. How can you claim it's a movie about the early career of David Bowie and then not feature David Bowie music? I question how much of this was fabricated. I would not recommend this to anyone.

I'm obsessed with Bowie and I've also read many books about him. I'm actually glad, in a selfish way, that this movie has been panned critically because I went in expecting it to be terrible but it wasn't at all.

People need to get over the fact that the likeness isn't great ..the costumes, hair and makeup were very accurate.

Nobody looks and sounds like Bowie and I didn't expect to see that. The writers obviously know their stuff and are passionate about Bowie. There is plenty of great factually accurate moments mixed in there with the dramatic narrative. Much of it is beautifully shot with great care and attention to detail. In defence of the actor's portrayal and spoken voice not sounding like the Bowie we remember, this was a period where he was creating his identity and he actually did used to affect different speaking styles so this didn't bother me at all.

Bowie came to be known for his humour in later years, much of that isn't present in the film but I imagine that the whole first American tour was alienating for him (a central theme of his work) and this story does a great job of portraying that existential unease.

Real fans of Bowie's early career should not miss this. Those involved in making this film should be proud of it. The current IMDB score of 3.6 is outrageously unfair.

Like an artist constrained to not use black and white in a painting the film's director has not used the music of it's heroic subject and just as the use of black and white is not necessary to make a painting so has the director found a way to make a film about a moment in Bowie's life without his music. Certainly we can harbor fantasies of a film where verisimilitude overwhelms us and all our rocknroll memories explode on screen. This is not that sort of film. So sorry for your loss. Stardust is a story of an apotheosis and one that did not come easily. Bowie was ignored by many in the early 70's including his record label. Many familiar characters spill across the screen and while you might gripe at Bolan or groan at Angie, Johnny Flynn's David Jones/Bowie is at times eerie as he emulates the shapes and features we associate with the man who sold the world. Not a perfect movie but Bowie came alive here at a time when still miss him. When Bowie played John Merrick on Broadway he wore no makeup and made no attempt to look like the famous Elephant Man and yet still carried the part to great acclaim. Kudos to director Gabriel Range for his choice of musician, somewhat acclaimed, Johnny Flynn to lead this thoughtful semi fictional look at where a Jones became a Bowie.

As a huge Bowie fan, I knew that I would expect a lot from this film, but that a film about Bowie without his music was bound to be a disappointment. Nevertheless, I tried giving this film a chance, and watch it with as much neutrality as possible. But oh no, this was painful and I would go as far as to say, disrespectful to Bowie. They portray him as an empty, bumbling fool with not much to offer but a dress, and endless renditions of a Brel song. You cannot keep implying how much of a misunderstood musical genius David is, when you don't get to hear any of his music or get a glimpse of his intellect, eloquence and charm. The acting is awful, the pace is awful, the wigs are awful. Why even bother?

The first thing you'll notice when you watch this is that there is not a single recognizable Bowie tune over the course of the entire movie. Bowie is portrayed as a loser who is unable to connect with audiences, interviewers and anyone trying to help him launch his career. You keep watching waiting for that point where things take off for him but the movie never gets there. Whoever made this movie couldn't have appreciated David Bowie very much.

I'm lost for words how bad this film was.

That's all I have to say

If i could give this a minus rating i would. Truly appalling and Bowie would be turning in hes grave.

An insult to hes life and legacy, shocking acting, shocking script, a total mess from start to finish even trying to impose on the personal sadness of Bowies Brother. No wonder the family refused to give permission to this absolute stinking dogpile of rancid faeces.

I dont think i could actually name a single film ive seen that is worse than this and ive seen some absolute shockers.

Some films are so bad they are brilliant. This film is so bad that every one involved should be arrested and give life time sentences for crimes against boiwe, cinematogrpahy and the general movie going public... and thats being generous.

At times a buddy/road film, this is a Bowie roots dramatization that while hamstrung from a lack of iconic Bowie songs of that era (that would have lent the film authentic gravitas) still the performance of Flynn as an early model 70's Bowie is utterly mesmerising, and makes this a must-see for any true Bowie fan.

Me inadvertently doing a Krusty The Clown impression as this film ended: "What the hell was that?!"

This is not a film about rock and roll nor is it supposed to be. This film is a look at a shy creative folk singer/songwriter who with another's encouragement found the inspiration to succeed as a completely original, uncensored stage performer on an exalted electrified and amplified level of musical theater. He achieves this through assuming an an alter ego which is compared in the film to a schizophrenic multiple personality parallel to his brother's diagnosis he is being treated for in the asylum pictured on The Man Who Sold The World album. The visions David has of his brother have a slowly revealed, silent "spirit guide" quality which is intriguing cinematography. If you are a creative person of the stage, of -any- art form, or support those who performances you find inspiring, you will understand and appreciate this film. This is brave, controversial subject matter which was clearly respectful to the challenges of the family's history of mental health treatment. This came out at a good time in history to be considered at how psychiatric diagnoses and the creative process have similarities which cause fear to those who don't understand the fine line between creative genius and insanity. I congratulate all those involved in this fine art film and hope the rock fans will open their eyes to the sublime purpose of the subject matter. I believe the artist would have been proud at what was examined here to show creative types a way when the public does not understand their art over a superficial one sided display of rock and roll shows which would likely have been more popular to those who criticized this film with low imdb ratings.

I really enjoyed this film...Granted, it is not the film most people want or expected, but none the less, they did a great job portraying how David Jones became David Bowie...And while they weren't given permission to use actual Bowie songs, the film does include several well known Bowie covers spaced judiciously throughout the film.. You could make a dozen or more films about Bowie's long and prolific career and that still would not be enough imhp .So, hats off to director, actors, and everyone else involved...Thank you:)

Maybe if you were a giant David Bowie fan and wanted to see a movie of him singing some other people's music, and had nothing good to do, and your house was already clean, you might like this movie. But if you generally like his music wanted to learn a little something about the man that made the music, skip this thing. The movie starts out saying its mostly fictional, so if you didn't know the real story, how could you tell what was what? And those nice little followups that biopics have about what happened? Not this movie. Look when you can't get the rights to the music, you movie is over with, done. It means don't try anymore. If you were doing a Beatles Biopic and could only use Mary had a little lamb in it, you just don't make the movie. It killed this thing.

What a waste. I grew up listening to Bowie and Ziggy Stardust. The opportunity to make a great film about a unique artist has been utterly squandered. I just hope someone tries again.

Such an awful movie. So poorly written, acted and filmed. No music in it, so sad I wasted 2 hours in what should have been an amazing movie.