Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

brian_wbr I have to give Gaga credit for doing this. She had to know it was going to be one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations. People are going to take their biases and filter them into a film like this, regardless oh how this was shot or what was said.The main question I ask myself when I watch any program is, "Was that entertaining?" Yes, this certainly was! This film gives us a glimpse of Gaga's life when the cameras aren't usually rolling and we're introduced to her usual surroundings and the people in her inner-circle. Sometimes I'm guilty of thinking that rich and famous people have no cares in the world. This film serves as a reminder that this notion is the farthest thing from the truth. Money provides comfort but not happiness, and I think that's one of the takeaways for me here.A lot of reviewers are comparing this to Madonna's "Truth or Dare" which is a movie about the creation and fruition of the "Blond Ambition Tour" and focuses mainly on the difficulties of touring and life on the road with your dancers and staff. TOD does a great job of showing how you become a family unit for that period in time. Half the film is concert footage shown in black and white. Lady Gaga's "Five Foot Two" is not a concert film at all. It's more loosely-based on her life in general but chronicles the time frame from making her latest studio album to her preparation for the Super Bowl Halftime Show. It's mainly about her life, so I can see why some reviewers are saying she's a narcissist to the Nth degree; but to be fair, how can a film like this NOT seem narcissistic if it's about her life? I think nearly all celebrities of this caliber are the centers of their own universe. When you have the entire world judging your every step, maybe it's just the nature of the beast and done for self preservation...and maybe I'm being too kind?I also found it interesting that she brings up Madonna's dislike of her. You can tell it really bothers her. It would be difficult to not get the approval of the one artist you basically worship and molded your own career after. It would have been a good time for Gaga to directly address and put to rest the blatant piracy of Madonna's music and her culpability in the matter...no such luck!For the most part, I thought she came across as being very genuine. Certainly, some of the scenes were staged but this is done in almost every "reality" based TV show or documentary these days. She cries a lot. She seemed very vulnerable and insecure at times. I had remembered hearing that she had hip surgery but didn't realize how much pain she was in and how her body just completely shuts down at times. To me, this humanizes her. Calling her whiny really isn't appropriate, especially when it relates to a condition like this. I know that people say she's all about fame and money, but when she explained the title of her new album, Joanne, and that it was the name of her deceased aunt who had lupus; I mean, do you seriously think that was a money grab? Whatever has happened between the beginning of her career and now, she seems to be finding herself as an artist, is becoming more comfortable with herself and with opening up and not hiding behind all the crazy couture (which we all love, don't get me wrong).To be fair, this was a mere 100 minutes of her fast-paced rock star life. I wish there had been more of Sonja Durham in the film. I think it's terrible other reviewers have said Gaga made it seem that Sonja's cancer was all about her. Come on people, think! Gaga clearly loved her and only a few minutes in the film was dedicated to their friendship and working relationship. We have no idea what happened behind the scenes and what Gaga did for Sonja and her family. I would wager she did everything she could.I wasn't planning on writing a review on this film but I really enjoyed it, even though I'm not a huge Gaga fan. After I read many of the super-judgmental reviews, I felt compelled to counter-balance all the negativity. All I can say is, I'm so glad I'm not famous!

bigbadbassface I remember watching 'Amy' about Amy Winehouse, and thinking, "Now THAT is a documentary about a gifted artist". She was talented, hard- working and cared about everyone around her. Lady Gaga seems to be basically the opposite. She was always crying, completely self-absorbed (and I mean NEVER stopped talking about herself and her "problems", even when discussing her close friend dying of cancer), and at least in this never showed much musical talent. She can obviously play the piano, but a lot of the featured songs seemed to come from her producer and musicians. Besides that nothing she played really made me feel. Every time Amy Winehouse sang in her documentary my friends and I always seemed to involuntarily stop talking and listen, all nodding are heads to whatever she was saying. During "Five Foot Two", however, it seemed like we kept making jokes about what we were seeing. I think a big part of my problem with it was that I never felt for her because she already feels only for herself, and therefore I never cared about her music. At least now I know this is someone I don't care to know much at all.

Sergio Scout Following the narcissistic gaga on her chest thumping tour in a " look at me mom" esque manner is one of the worst kinds of documentaries/fantasies there are. It lacks depth, has a horrible bias and is absolutely an Utopian dream. In reality gaga doesn't write her own songs but is given the songs that are written by the music corporations themselves. Same goes for all pop idols today as well as the rappers/hiphoppers and other people like that. This is why scores of people flee the pop culture and the rap culture ( aka gangsta culture) toward other genres likes heavy metal, jazz, hardcore music, trance to name a few.This is a feeble attempt to imitate Madonna. This "docu/movie/narcissistic drivel" is not worth seeing because it is build on lies upon lies. If you like to see yet another hollyweed style lie this is the one for you. I however did not like this crap at all. I am going to label crappy movies/documentaries as crap. No more tipping around the edge anymore. If people are hellbent on creating crap i will call them out on it. So this "movie"/docu is crap. Do not watch. Do something useful with said time you would have spent watching this utter drivel.

rjc9336 I've never reviewed anything on IMDb before. Let's gets that out of the way. This documentary was absolutely amazing. I can't say I have particularly loved Lady Gaga but after viewing this, I see her in a completely different light. I cried at least 3 times throughout. When she was singing at the Tony Bennet event, her voice was so full of emotion that I couldn't help but tear up. I didn't realize how much pain she is in either. Every artist makes music for a certain reason. Most make it out of necessity just to stay sane and feel alive. The amount of emotion in her voice can't be described in words, only music. And yes I realize that lyrics are words but the timbre of her voice says sooooo much. I can't imagine having a spotlight such as hers either. Seeing how much she cares about her fans is unreal as well. There's one scene with a young girl who was interviewed as saying how Lady Gaga has saved her and seeing how Gaga reacts to the fan is priceless. Like I said before, i haven't teared up as much in a movie since Marley and Me. I hope you take as much emotion away from this as I did.