Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Blistering performances.

As I read these reviews, I wonder if we were watching the same documentary or if those above watch many of them. I don't say that arrogantly, but rather I've seen some documentaries on great subject matters which have sadly fallen short due to bad editing or meandering paths with no seeming point in sight.The documentaries which are similar to this one in which the subject matter was amazing but the film making fell short include "Billy Childish is Dead" and "Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise Here)".This documentary starts off well enough with many photos of a young Shane and sad interviews with his parents who carry their age much better than Shane. But this film features random bits of Shane signing shirts of middle aged ladies, about four or five complete music videos and a very odd meandering style which really was not conducive to the story. The long and the short of it is that if you're not a Pogues fan, you might not want to have this be your intro to them. Go find your local Irish punk fan, get drunk with them on whiskey and rock out. It'd be better. I found myself knowing enough about Shane that I always seemed about 10 minutes ahead of the time line of the film because the film was that slow. I found myself being bored because it was another random few minutes of footage with hard to hear interviews and grainy inside shots of Shane in another bar. Overall, this documentary could have been 45 minutes shorter, had better paced editing and a more comprehensive set of interviewees. The five stars are for Pogues fans who will love this no matter what... the lack of five is for anyone else who doesn't know much about the band. You'd be better off watching the music videos on the bonus section of the DVD because that's about half the documentary right there.

One of the great singer-songwriters of our time, yet also an absolute trainwreck. I do think that this is a very important film, although its terribly sad to see how the years of alcohol abuse have taken a great toll on Shane. I normally discuss a film over pints of beer after seeing a film, but after this one - I couldn't.

As a Pogues fan, I really appreciated this intimate look at Shane MacGowan. Although Shane's sweet side comes out in his lyrics, I never really knew too much about the man. Yes, the one on one interviews w/ Shane were very hard to understand, but it's worth watching nonetheless. The film cast Shane as the sweet drunk at the party, both witty and romantic. Obviously not all the results of Shane's relationship w/ "the drink" were shown, especially as it related to his leaving the band. It's in impossible for me to rate this film objectively as Shane is one of those artists who really spoke to me as a teenager and I've loves his work ever since.

I was so moved when I saw this film it brought me to tears. You see I am an alcoholic too, as is Shane. I saw this after having relapsed after seven years sobriety. I wept openly and still believe he is a genius inspite of his madness. Don't dwell on his interviews which he was incoherent. Listen to the words of the songs he has written and the way in which they were performed. You will see his genious too. In the mean time please pray for both of our recoveries.