Best movie of this year hands down!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

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!

This documentary is interesting but seemingly not for the intended reasons. I love documentaries because it allows one to people watch without feeling bad about staring. Even when a documentary feels ham handed and like it might have an agenda, the truth of a person comes through by watching their interactions and mannerisms. There is the narrative that is attempted to be told, and then there is the truth of the person underneath the narrative. I suppose being a rock star and being a narcissist kind of go hand and hand, but some rock star narcissists are humorous and some are god awful annoying. Gaga is annoying. Her talent is impressive, whereas the person she is, is not. Her narcissism poisons any likability potential. This becomes so obvious to me in the scene with Florence Welch of Florence of the machine. The scene only lasts a minute or two but immediately one can see Florence is down to Earth, awesome, talented and a person who is a person. All her mannerisms and the way she holds herself point to Florence's awesomeness. She seems to be a person one would want to hang out with and ask questions to ... a person one can learn from and be impressed by. On the other hand, Gaga is all ego. The more ego the less impressive someone becomes. Too much ego makes a person a vampire. A person with a huge ego takes from any person they interact with. Gaga gives the world amazing music but after watching this documentary it makes one think she does it for the benefits she reaps ... to feed the ego. Her talent creates and gives us all so much, yes, but this doc makes one think Gaga's intent is to feed her ego as opposed to feed humanity. It made me feel sorry for Gaga, but also in the end mostly just be annoyed by her. Who knows if this is really how she is. But this documentary definitely made me think so.

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.

Not a fan of her music, but after hearing her on Howard Stern and viewing the Tony Bennett doc, I was very impressed with her talent and found her interesting.So I was eagerly anticipating this doc on netflix and convinced my DH to watch it with me.Now I owe him, big time. Suffering succotash, but this was the most boring doc of all time. It did not do justice the woman or the artist. I dutifully sat through the whole thing, what a waste of time. If you want to see music cocoon Netflix done right, check out the Tom Petty.