We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I love The Minuteman, so it would be very hard for me to dislike this documentary. Still, I thought it had some pretty serious structural problems. The backbone of the film is Mike Watt telling the story of the band in chronological order, using primarily clips from two lengthy interviews. This part of the film tells a compelling story. It is inter cut with performance footage and snippets of interviews with dozens of other major and minor figures in the band's story. This talking head footage has a tendency to undermine the film at time. The director obviously collected so much interview footage that he seems compelled to use it, but what's being said is often repetitive and not pertinent to the point that Watt's story has reached. It gives the film a disorganized, scatter shot feel that really undermines its effectiveness at times.

Perhaps the best thing about this documentary is that it manages to present a deep and rounded enough picture of a great subject that it will have substantial appeal both to the most devoted long-time Minutemen fan and to those who've never heard of them or experienced their music. For those who've been enjoying the music of D. Boon, Mike Watt, and George Hurley for years, some of the content will be familiar by now, but the story takes on fresh vitality and power when told by the band members themselves--both from archival interviews and in fresh footage of the surviving members.I wish dearly that this film or something like it had been around 20 years ago since the Minutemen, for all of their magic and considerable virtues, are not only an acquired taste but a somewhat difficult one to acquire. As becomes the focus of many of the testimonials from their contemporaries, they stubbornly stuck out as unique and eccentric even in the (rapidly-calcifying) LA punk scene. In this world of misfits who tended to rush to cookie-cutter formula for some semblance of security or solidarity, the Minutemen insisted on following their own muse, creating not only their own style of music but their own ways of working, their own lingo, and--most of all--their own deeply personal (and yet highly political) way of looking at the world. Because of this rejection of the quick, easy 3-chord punk format and all of its attendant accessories (simple anti-authority anger and lyrics, ripped clothes, tough snarling image), the Minutemen never gave their audience any easy footholds to get into the music. Instead, it took careful, sensitive, and repeated listenings to see the very human spirit(s) behind the music, to appreciate the revolutionary fervor and self-deprecating humor of their outlook. It's easy to forget after 20 years of fanhood just how hard it was and how long it took to really appreciate them, but this film will make the chore much less painful for prospective new converts, since the guys themselves and their most sympathetic fans and friends get to tell the story and set the record straight. As Watt himself muses at one point, so much of what they did was wildly misunderstood at the time, which is why there was and is a burning need for a film like this--it allows us to finally get the clearest look yet at the inner workings of a truly unique, intelligent, and heartfelt band.This brings us to another reason why it's so wonderful even for those who don't know the Minutemen, or even those who can't or won't enjoy the music--there's a great, great story at the heart of this film, the tale of a rare and wondrous creative friendship sundered by a senseless loss that is tempered by the brave and inspiring way in which Watt in particular has continued to wave the banner of honesty, homespun truth, and DIY. D. Boon's untimely demise is also made meaningful by the obvious reverence and respect shown by so many of his contemporaries, by the clear spiritual influence he has had on so many other musicians. Though gone, his music and spirit lives on, never more perfectly captured than in this loving documentary.

I'm a sixty something life-long fan of rock (well at least since the mid 1950s), and lived in California and never heard of the Minutemen that I can remember. Maybe I did hear of them but thought they had something to do with Paul Revere. I'm not sure why I rented the DVD but I'm happy I did.The interviews, the live shows are raw like the music The Minutemen made. I think their lyrics and what they sing about to be inspired. They aren't afraid to speak the truth (whatever that is!) and do it in an unique and insistent fashion. In the interview of the three band mates they come across as grounded, thoughtful, humble, and connected to one another. D. Boone, Mike Watt, George Hurley rock. I wish I'd have seen them live.

I just attended the premier for this last night at San Pedro's historic Warner Grand Theatre, and man - what a beautiful film. I know that "time sensitive references" are not smiled upon by our IMDb benefactors, but I believe that in this case it is entirely appropriate to put the film in context in this way. A documentary is, by definition, a time sensitive thing - and this one intentionally so as it's release marks the twenty year anniversary of D. Boon's passing. What I experienced last night at the premier is, I think, an integral part of what this film is all about: celebrating the life, and mourning the loss of this tremendous artist. I first heard the Minutemen in 1985, just months before D. Boon's tragic and untimely death, and so for me, as well as for so many others younger than myself, my love affair with this band has been one of grieving from the very beginning - a grieving which, for Angelenos like myself, is a deeply personal and palpable thing, and one from which it seems we have never fully recovered. ---Until last night. The opening of this movie was like the memorial service for D. Boon that most of us never had. All of LA's punk rock luminaries were in attendance (and in the film!), along with as many of her fans and enthusiasts as the theater could hold, and the feeling was one of - at last - a proper, collective acknowledgment of the contribution made by the Minutemen to punk rock, to DIY, to music period, to each of us; an exhale, if you will, followed by a whoot and a raised fist. The audience cheered and hollered as each of their friends and idols graced the screen to share the myriad ways in which this band touched and transformed their lives, booed at the villains, wept openly at the final goodbye's to D... and this is, I think, what this movie ultimately is: finally, after twenty years, a "time sensitive reference" of the greatness and importance of this band - something which everyone over here knows down in their soul, but which now can be shared with the rest of world with the same level of intimacy - in Mike Watt's own words as he drive's his van around Pedro, in the amazing and extensive live footage of the band, in the very spirit of celebration with which the film was made.So, see this movie, buy a copy, share it with your friends - then go form a band, make a record, make a movie, start your own label or production company or zine ---or just go drink and pogo! RIP, D. We love and miss you.