Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful

I got the chance to sit down and watch "When We Were Beautiful" a documentary on Bon Jovi's 2008 tour and where the band was at at that time.





Now I have been a fan when no one knew who they were, I was also a fan when everyone knew who they were and once again a fan when they weren't cool anymore and still went to shows when they started appealing more to my mom then me,LOL... And watching this movie has been hardly difficult. On one hand you have Jon Bon Jovi (Who is the movie's main focal point) discussing how hard it is to be him and other the other hand speaking to how much he loves it. I have to wonder what 25 year old Jon would say to 46 year old Jon.

This is actually a very good doc... Not many get this close to a band that is this big. This would be like Documenting Elvis in the 50s-60s or Led Zeppelin in the 70s... This type of access is just not done with people this big. It is much more fascinating then I was expecting.

We then get the guys talking about personal issues they had and how the band helped them through it. We hear Richie talking about his alcoholism, and his guilt on it's effect on the band.

The first 20 minutes is Jon talking about his philanthropy, and how the critics perceived them vs. the fans. He says he doesn't want to play intimate clubs, he'd rather play a huge place knowing all those people wanted to be there... And it really makes sense.I know it is cooler to say you want to be more intimate... But the reality is that all bands want as much acceptance as possible. He also speaks to the fact that he tried to write more personal and political and no one wanted to hear it. It really showed the schism that is in a band that wants to be popular and relevant at the same time that they are growing older... Do you want to write the same safe stuff for millions or do you want to do something different for thousands? You also see the pressures of being Jon Bon Jovi, not just musically, but in the business world. My only complaint? He treats the Bon Jovi name much like Gene Simmons treats the Kiss name... It almost more business than rock n' roll, and that is a little sad.

After that the movie gets to the other band members and what the band went through when they blew up with "Slippery When Wet". They speak candidly about how it is Jon's band and how in the long run this is best for all of them. They also get into the fact that even though it is Jon's band, they are a brotherhood and they are there for each other, not news to Jovi fans, but it is nice to see each guy interviewed separately in their own special places and being very candid.

We then get into some of the bands demons as both Richie Sambora and Tico Torres talk of their alcoholism and how the band saved them, but both men use different ways to cope. For Richie it is music, for Tico it is golf and art. Then we get David Bryan talking about his outside projects, he seems to be the most well adjusted individual in the band, no substance issues, no pressures of people pulling him in 100 different directions, just a happy guy.

They then bring it back to how Jon is helping with habitat for humanity, and his other political causes. This is all bringing us to a wrap up at a free show in central park. Earlier in the movie we see the stress again of being Jon, Ticketmaster is trying to charge $2.50 a ticket plus other hidden charges for a free show and the stress on Jon is visible as he even considers canceling, but is told how if he does the blame will go on the band and not Ticketmaster and as always, Jon doesn't want to disappoint their fans.

In the end I was surprised how much I liked this doc. I was expecting a back patting love fest, but what I got was a warts and all doc with not much music, which is odd for a music doc, but in reality... Do we really need to hear these songs again? We all know them by heart, so I am more then OK with them dedicating more time to the story. A very good movie that I would recommend to watch even if you are not a fan because I doubt you will ever see this kind of a documentary on a band that is this big.

-G