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Super Duper Alice Cooper Review

By David Kempler

Alice Cooper Pooper Scooper

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You may never have heard of him, but Vincent Damon Furnier became a major name in entertainment in 1971. You probably know him better as Alice Cooper. He began his career in the 1960's in Phoenix and grew to epic proportions locally, so his band headed to Los Angeles to make it big. What they learned upon arriving was they were no longer the big fish in the little pond. They were one of hundreds of successful local bands all fighting to carve out their niche in the city of angels. It didn't go well.

After wandering around the country, the band got a gig in Detroit and for whatever reason, the denizens of that city loved them. They were certainly a decent band but they depended more on spectacle than on great musicianship to make an impact. One could argue that they were a precursor to KISS. It all fell into place for the band in 1971, when they broke from obscurity into populatiry with their enormous seller, I'm Eighteen, an anthem for high-schoolers everywhere. They had officially arrived on the American music scene.

Sam Dunn, Reginald Harkema, and Scott McFadyen serve as co-directors and co-writers of this documentary, which plays more like linear biopic than anything else. Yeah, they toss in footage from old monster movies to show what they feel the genesis of the Alice Cooper persona is, but most of these moments do little to propel the story. The effect it had on me was to imagine three guys sitting around trying to wedge some of their favorite old flicks into the middle of a story they have nothing to do with. Yeah, I get that it is supposed to be a depiction of Alice Cooper as entertainer more than musician, but it also serves to underscore just how unimportant the group's music was to their success.

With fame comes the almost inevitable fall into substance abuse, accompanied by the slide back into obscurity and irrelevance.  And you'll certainly find that here. The problem is that I felt nothing when Alice Cooper hit the skids. I didn't feel sorry for him. I didn't laugh at his misfortune. I just didn't care. That is never a good reaction to something you watch or read, but you don't need me to tell you that.

By the time "Super Duper Alice Cooper" concludes, the viewer will probably feel next to nothing. Naturally, if you were (or still are) an Alice Cooper freak, there is a chance you will think that this is one of the greatest films ever made and you will see it no matter what anyone else says about it. For the rest of you, it is less super duper than pooper scooper.

What did you think?

Movie title Super Duper Alice Cooper
Release year 2014
MPAA Rating NR
Our rating
Summary Doc that examines the career of rocker Alice Cooper manages to make his life and career fairly boring, even though it included the usual drugs and ladies. That is an accomplishment of some sort.
View all articles by David Kempler
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