Beastie Boys

The premise of this Beastie Boys concert film is enough to make you want to lose your lunch from dizziness, but you would be amazed how easily you grow accustomed to seeing the legendary hip-hop trio through the eyes of 50 shaking video cameras. Having dozens of fans document the Beastie Boys' homecoming show at Madison Square Gardens was a clever idea, but it's the great editing job and endless footage of the "whiter than white" audience that make it so engaging. Crowd pleasers such as "Sabotage" (why does a rock song have to still be their biggest hit?) and basically anything off Licensed to Ill are when this film is at its best because fans completely lose their minds and produce hilarious shots of stupidity and awkward dancing. It's the times where the Beastie Boys bust into jazz tunes that the crowd becomes motionless and we're reduced to far too many Photoshop filters, making for a rather dull experience. Laying off the extensive use of psychedelic graphics during the slow jams would have improved Awesome greatly, but instead we experience the same bored sensation the rowdy jocks must when Ad-Rock busts out his vocoder. Still, there many pure and honest clips of fraternity idiocy and Doug E. Fresh beat boxing making this experiment enjoyable. The DVD extras are not quite as fresh as the main feature, as a promising Hornblower rendition from David Cross simply isn't funny, though you do have to appreciate a drunken Cross wandering NYC in lederhosen. There's some unused footage from fans but there was a reason it didn't make the final cut, as well there is some very random video of a very short-tempered tour manager, Jerome Crooks. The world tour intros with the mighty Mix Master Mike that play for the audience before he hits the stage and demolishes ears are here but they’re pretty corny for the most part, though somewhat amusing nonetheless. Nice little moments like the boys trying to remember the words to "Hello Brooklyn" backstage would have been more welcome, but any fan of the crew and certainly anyone who has seem them live before will love this film. (Th!nk)