If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This is the second documentary I've watched about the music business within the last week. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but by the time it ended I was so glad that it was finally over.This film seems like nothing more than a promotion for the handful of singers who are featured - apparently the people who made the movie felt that these women (and one or two men) were the only background singers of note. Add to that the fact that almost without exception, these singers wanted (or want) to be front and center and the doc feels like a marketing tool. It became incredibly tiresome after a while. Don't get me wrong - these women can "sang" (often better than the people they are backing) and I can appreciate and respect the amount of talent they have. They added so much to the songs they did vocals on and the songs wouldn't have the same without what they contributed. I found, though, that I burnt out quickly on the "poor, poor pitiful me" undertone and the whining about "I should have been a huge star" or "I got screwed". I would have thought that these folks would have been grateful for the opportunities they had - making money doing something they love, doing it exceedingly well, having a job that many people would sell their souls to do and being in the successful elite who were lucky enough to make it in an exceeding tough and competitive business.Finally, if you consider that apparently the doc isn't entirely truthful (see other reviews for information on that), the film really isn't worth a watch.Maybe if I had watched "TWENTY FEET" first instead of "THE WRECKING CREW" (which I loved), I wouldn't feel like I'd just watched a very long and desperate promo reel.

This music documentary, unlike any of its predecessors, focuses on artists not usually the center of attention in the music industry, the backup singers. This film portrayed the careers of the unsung forces behind many notable cuts from the past fifty years.The essence of these great backup singers is rooted in gospel music and black culture. In the 60s, singers like Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Patti Austin, and many other black women (and a few men) became the sound of many legendary cuts, for which they did not receive the recognition they deserved. Many songs from that era's catchy hooks came from these artists, but unless you are a music historian, you wouldn't be aware. This movie sheds light on the hidden stars behind some of the most famous tunes in history.And the colored girls go/"Doo do doo do doo do do doo …" – Lou Reed Walk On The Wild SideThe only artist of the bunch that I knew anything about previous to this film was Darlene Love from her previous encounters with Bruce Springsteen, but this movie was extremely enlightening about her rise,fall, and resurrection. It chronicled her days as (in)famous record producer, Phil Spector's go-to-girl in creating hit after hit in the 60s. He helped spark her career as lead singer of The Blossoms, but also had her record hit songs such as He's A Rebel, and then release them under a faux group name and have a group lip sync them for performances (in the case of He's A Rebel, it is credited to The Crystals). Even when Love finally broke free of Spector's hold, he ultimately bought her back in, thus putting a damper on her hopes and dreams until much later in her career. Her eventual election into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 is one of the movies, and her careers, high points. Most of the other backup vocalists did not have the same amount of success Love had, but their stories were fascinating nonetheless.Through all the hardships these singers faced, there is a great story of liberation that came with rock 'n' roll, specifically from the United Kingdom. Many artists from the UK were fascinated by the soulful harmonies produced by these early backup vocalists and wanted that sound replicated in their recordings. Musicians from Joe Cocker, David Bowie, and The Rolling Stones all feature these vocalists on some of their most classic recordings. Merry Clayton's tale marking one of the most prolific and strongest vocals in rock history is truly an amazing thing. Her chilling screams of "Rape, murder/It's just a shot away" in The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter sends chills down the spine of anyone who hears it. The Rolling Stones have continued to recruit black, female vocalists to this day including Lisa Fischer, whose career is also highlighted in this film. A most poignant point in the movie depicts four images of Fischer fading in, harmonizing with herself, and then fades out until we are left with nothing but a single microphone as we are told of the lessening of demand for backup vocalists in today's industry.Towards the end of the film Sting plays with the idea that maybe it is just pure luck that those who have "made it" are where they are. Patti Austin comments that one needs a certain amount of "ego" to make it in the music business. Maybe it is a combination of both.This film is a must see for any music lover, as it is extremely entertaining and enlightening as a great untold story of the music business.

The 2014 Oscar winner for Best Documentary. Good documentary on the lives and careers of some of rock/R&B music's most famous background singers, and the highs and lows of being a background singer.Featured singers include Merry Clayton, who provided probably the pinnacle moment in backing vocal history when she sang on the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter". Coincidentally (or not) also includes the current Stones female backing singer, Lisa Fischer.Includes recent interviews with some of the greats they supported: Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Sting.Some good insights into the music industry, and the pluses and minuses of being a support artist vs a lead artist. There is something missing though. While good, the documentary doesn't seem to have that extra something to make it profound, and brilliant. Hard to put the finger on what the missing ingredient is. Maybe it is the lack of glamour in the role: the whole thing just seems so low- key, especially compared to the lives of the people they supported.Ultimately, an interesting look into the lives of the lesser-known, but still important, contributors to the music industry.

"Twenty Feet from Stardom" is written and directed by Morgan Neville, who is not new to the genre at all. He has already worked on documentaries about Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam and Ray Charles to name only a few. Here, however, he takes a look at these who are not in the limelight: the background singers. It is a bit of an irony that his biggest success, namely an Academy Award win for Best Documentary, comes with putting the focus on these and not on the real superstars. I cannot say too much about how deserving this film was to win as I have not seen any of the other nominees, but I have seen Blackfish and it is quite a shame that this Orca-based documentary did not even get nominated.I did not really like "20 Feet from Stardom". Most of it is very clichéd. They keep saying several times that you need a huge ego for a huge career and that they are maybe background singers as they lack that ego. However, from the way these ladies acted and talked, I did not have the impression at all that they weren't egoistic enough. They seemed actually to have a bigger ego than some of the stars they did the background for. Maybe it simply is that they are not talented enough? The upside of this documentary is that you hear some real quality songs and see some interesting artists in a bit of a behind the scenes documentary. I liked the Stones' performance of Gimme Shelter with a magnificent performance from the female singer and also the version of "Lean on Me" near the end. These two are not enough to save the film from mediocrity though. It is certainly not the ultimate background singer documentary I had hoped for.The Phil Specter criticism part was probably intended as one of the emotionally sad highlight, but the way it was displayed with the look in her face and the music in the background was just so over the top as if a 1,000 people just died that it felt completely artificial and cringeworthy. Other than that, the majority of the film is uplifting despite them letting us know what a tough job they actually have. But all the ones interviewed have performed with absolute superstars, so my sympathy is kind of limited here. If there is an upper class of background singers, then it is those people shown int his documentary. What about the ones struggling even harder? Where are they? It just lost a lot of credibility for me because of that. I am sure they made good money and still they behaved like they got absolutely nothing.The film also showed that it is actually possible to make it from background singer to "real" singer and I liked the "Lion King" reference as I quite adore the film. What I found strange is that this film somehow lets the audience think there are only black female background singers. With one or two exceptions, none of the many people in there were male or white. I don't know what Neville intended with limiting it to that one specific group and what his point was in doing that. I personally would have hoped for a more general film in terms of the history of background singers instead of the specific lives and fates of those interviewed. Sometimes it just wasn't interesting enough to attract my attention. Not recommended.