Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

CBGB is a decent if frustrating look at the birth of punk rock in New York in the mid-70s. It's more a love letter to the club's owner Hilly Kristal than to the movement itself. The cast are mostly great. Alan Rickman is excellent as Kristal, and the actors portraying such well known faces of the period like Debbie Harry, David Byrne, Patti Smith and The Ramones are believable. There are a few missteps, such as Lou Reed and Richard Hell in particular. A few interesting players in the story are missing for some reason, such as Nancy Spungeon, Jerry Nolan, Lester Bangs, Johnny Thunders and more, which is annoying.For dedicated fans of the period there are also some added gripes such as them re-writing the story of Johnny Blitz's stabbing, which happened completely differently to what they show here. Why do that? Ultimately it's an enjoyable if flawed experience packed with fantastic music and larger than life characters, definitely worth seeing if you have any interest in the genre.

The music inheritage of CBGB and the history of PUNK in a movie. Simply outstanding.

Regardless of the inaccuracies, the music is great and the film provides a small glimpse into the scene at the Bowery club. Alan Rickman is wonderfully droll and captures the spirit of Hilly. Nice seeing a few old rockers pop up in cameos. Would have been nice to see more character development and have the bands that helped kick off the club and the punk scene be portrayed more than cardboard cut-outs. You can practically smell the stale beer and pee. I would suggest reading Legs McNeil's, "Please Kill Me" to supplement the film's account of the mid 70's NY music scene. Some casting was spot on, but the Lou Reed scene was pathetic and the actor was horrible. I like Justin Bartha, as well, but Stiv Bators was hardly adorable. The wigs were ridiculous too.

I wanted to like this movie, but it was flawed in many ways. In summary, 1) no cohesive story 2) an uninteresting main character 3) not believable. It was obvious to me that the creators were not real fans of the music, but rather looking to capitalize on a genre they 'thought' would make a good movie. They cast Stiv Bators to be a callous, brash, jerk who didn't care about Johnny Blitz's stabbing. He was, in fact, nothing like that. He was thoughtful, soft spoken, and incredibly upset about that incident. Another case in point, there were stickers all over the walls from the 90's & 2000's (ex. Naked Aggression, OFF!) when the Ramones were first taking the stage. Oops.I also couldn't stand the way that Lisa Kristal, an executive producer of the film, clearly tried to make it seem like she had the vision for CBGB's (by telling her dad that this was the next big thing) or that she 'saved' the club from financial ruin, when in fact, this is complete nonsense. In a tiny cameo, they portrayed Iggy Pop as a fool, as well, when he, not Hilly, is widely considered the 'Godfather' of punk. These people were not nihilistic morons, as they were portrayed. They were intelligent artists, making a statement against the music of the time (Foghat, Pink Floyd, etc). And yes, Hilly was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to give them a venue, but that fact alone does not make him a very interesting main character. As a fan, I wanted this movie to be good, but it was just so wrong on so many levels. I'm sure everyone that was around to remember it feels the same way, too.