ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

poindexter_mellon Way back in the day, for my friends and me, it was all about rebellion against the mainstream, and the Cowsills seemed about as mainstream as you could get. You could just look at them and be pretty sure that while we were dropping acid and blowing our minds with Abbey Road, they were downing Hostess Twinkies and hanging out with their mom and little sister. Well, it turns out that they were a bunch of very talented and fun people who accomplished a whole lot more than my wasted friends and I ever did. You get to know them and like them in this movie, and hear all about the extreme ups and downs of their lives. It's great, I'm glad they seem to have hung together as a family, although a number of them have died. I think Susan is my favorite. How could you not cheer for a precocious little girl with seven big brothers. One thing that's kind of interesting to me is that they all appear to be very self-confident and outgoing people, both now and as kids, despite their tumultuous upbringing. It makes me ponder the "nature vs nurture" thing, especially since nurture was lacking in that household. Anyway, a really good movie, I enjoyed it and have done a complete 180 regarding my opinion of the Cowsills... they are fantastic!

Lucia It had to be tough pulling all 7 of the surviving (at the start) Cowsills together and having it weave a coherent narrative, but in part, this documentary does that. For those of us who remember their meteoric rise, perfect harmonies and sudden dramatic disappearance, this documentary answered a lot of questions. Contrary to Cousin Brucie's theory that the music industry changed - they still had a huge number of fans who were left wondering what had happened to them. As musically talented as they were and still are, they could have easily gone with any changes the musical landscape had to throw at them and not only survived but thrived.I wish it had gone a little deeper in parts - their mother's part in all this was glossed over and she got off way too lightly, but maybe it was a time issue. I mean, she kicks her only daughter out of the house for surviving an attempted rape by her father? Stood around smoking while the father beat all of his sons bloody? Who does that? The woman had the best escape route in history (the marketable talent of her kids, which was impressive), and she didn't take it to protect them from the brutality? We never understand why.So, for what it did cover, I found this to be a well produced and very interesting documentary. Answered a lot of questions. Just not all.

MartinHafer The story of the Cowsills easily could have been summed up in 60 minutes--or much less. This is because so much of the thrust is how much the family patriarch was an abusive and hateful jerk. But after a while, it all became a bit numbing. It's a lot more like listening to family members gripe about a mutually hated family member in therapy instead of a documentary. The Cowsills, if you remember them, were a family singing group that went on to inspire the creation of the television show "The Partridge Family". However, unlike the TV show, the real family was NOT happy nor did they particularly enjoy their success. It seems that the father, Bud, was incredibly destructive, violent, abusive and evil. And, when the group was past their glory days, they realized that there was no money! They'd sold millions of records but the money was gone! All that I just told you was told in the first half hour...and there was still an hour more to go! Much of the rest of the film consists of talking about family dysfunction, early deaths and depression. And, eventually, the surviving members of the group began to talk about their awful father...and this pretty much makes up the rest of the movie.The bottom line is that the film was numbing. Yes, Bud Cowsill was a horrendous person...but after a while it all sounded repetitive and overly long. This all left little time for the post-we hate Bud Cowsill segment where the family learned to finally care about each other. All in all, fascinating and depressing at the same time.

Joanna Folino Wonderful documentary by Louise Palanker that chronicles the oft posed but rarely answered question: What happened to The Cowsills? The music cleverly used throughout the film tells us a lot without trying to but what is especially refreshing is that the film allows the story to unfold naturally (and this is so important to this kind of story) in the family's own words. I never get the feeling that the filmmaker intrudes upon the story in any way. The music is a large asset to the film because it was truly refreshing and creative. Interesting insert by Shirley Jones who played the mother in the televised version aka The Partridge Family. I often wondered why TV executives did not just let The Cowsills play themselves on a televised version. This would have been a successful reality TV show had the Cowsills happened today. Brought to mind another greatly talented family group, The Jackson Five with a similar issue of paternal bullying and worse. At times shockingly revealing, the film shows what being a family is truly about, dysfunction, tragedy and all. Don't miss it.