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It Might Get Loud

EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

It Might Get Loud reviews
70
8.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 10 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary  |  Musical

Written by:

Directed by: Davis Guggenheim

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 14, 2009
DVD: December 22, 2009

Running Time: 97 minutes, Black and White | Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for mild thematic elements, brief language and smoking

Starring the Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White

Rarely can a film penetrate the glamorous surface of rock legends. It Might Get Loud tells the personal stories, in their own words, of three generations of electric guitar virtuosos – The Edge (U2), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), and Jack White (The White Stripes). It reveals how each developed his unique sound and style of playing favorite instruments, guitars both found and invented. Concentrating on the artist’s musical rebellion, traveling with him to influential locations, provoking rare discussion as to how and why he writes and plays, this film lets you witness intimate moments and hear new music from each artist. The movie revolves around a day when Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge first met and sat down together to share their stories, teach and play. (Sony Classics)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Hollywood Reporter Justin Lowe

It Might Get Loud offers a thrilling personal tour of three exceptional electric guitarists' careers that's equally appealing to musicians and rock enthusiasts alike.

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100

Variety John Anderson

Musically and visually sumptuous.

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100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A marvelous rock doc that manages to be wistful, tasty, and jam-kicking at the same time.

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100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

You'll never see a more tactile expression of the intimacy between artists and their instruments than in Davis Guggenheim's elating It Might Get Loud.

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90

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

It's Page, a joyful instructor and natural storyteller, who steals the spotlight (Robert who? More, please.) Only real complaint: The movie's not loud enough. They should have turned that f***er up to 11.

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90

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

In nearly every moment, an incredibly rich mix of their music, groundbreaking, defining, which alone would almost be enough. That It Might Get Loud comes with a righteous story too is a lovely bonus.

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88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Does this sound like rock heaven? It is.

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88

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Kevin C. Johnson

Davis Guggenheim, the St. Louis director who won an Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth," mines less controversial material this time around.

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83

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Each man has his own distinctive style, and yet when they jam together it sounds like the most natural thing in the world.

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80

The New York Times A.O. Scott

For rock geeks of any age or taste, the lore in this documentary will be catnip.

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75

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's a pleasure to watch these men perform. These are real-life guitar heroes. But it would have been a treat to see more of them talking shop.

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75

NPR Mark Jenkins

The moments when the guitarists teach the others their best-known riffs are fascinating.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

With varying degrees of success, the filmmaker gets each musician to talk about the personal and musical roots that blossomed into his technique.

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75

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The best parts of It Might Get Loud, though, occur when Guggenheim visits with the musicians one on one.

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75

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

Brilliant in its simplicity, as he turns the floor over to the three masters with this simple instruction: The guitar. Discuss.

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70

Washington Post John Anderson

One needn't have a Stratocaster moldering in the closet at home to get a kick out of It Might Get Loud.

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70

Film Threat K.J. Doughton

White and The Edge appear guarded, and perhaps a bit intimidated, by Page’s Yoda-like status.

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67

Portland Oregonian Stan Hall

Feels like an iffy concept album with some great singles.

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67

The Onion (A.V. Club) Sam Adams

The resulting jam session ought to be a music geek’s wet dream, but there isn’t enough common ground to produce more than a few flashes of inspiration.

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63

New York Post Kyle Smith

For rock fans, hearing many Led Zeppelin and U2 classics on a theater sound system is worth the price of a ticket.

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63

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

As documentary, it’s low concept. But it’s never dull.

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60

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Few of the parts harmonize ­properly, leaving us with provocative fragments rather than an electrifying whole.

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50

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Why isn’t the film better? Guggenheim doesn’t seem to have prodded his subjects in any interesting directions.

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50

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The strain to pull all this together becomes more evident as the movie progresses, and the three-way musical finale, a rickety acoustic run-through of “The Weight,” hardly lives up to the stars’ reputations.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The trouble is, once you get past the historical information and chummy interviews, you have to put up with the inevitable risk of any ad-hoc jam session: It Might Get Boring.

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40

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The film's very title is a tease, however: It never gets all that loud, and you might doze off after 30 minutes of watching this unwieldy power trio recount their formative years and visit old haunts before heading on to a soundstage for their minimum rock & roll "summit."

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25

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

An empty exercise.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eric A gave it a10:
If your a Zeppelin fan you know Pagerarely opens up like that!

Matt the Cat gave it an8:
I really enjoyed this movie, even if it has a few flaws (it never really got loud; what's with ending on them playing the over-played "The Weight"?). Great to see Jimmy Page looking so good and at peace- he has never seemed that together since Zeppelin ended. I'd love to see him in a working band again. This is a must-see for hard core rock fans; for others, rent it.

Jim P. gave it a5:
Page and The Edge...awesome!!!! Who is that third dude???? In 20 years maybe boy becomes man?

Keith J gave it a9:
If you are interested in rock and blues music, you will find something to enjoy in this movie. That said ... I found the jumps between the three musicians a bit distracting. Just when I was getting into one story, we left it behind and went to something else. Like many viewers, I had a lower opinion of one of the guitarists before the movie (in my case, The Edge), but came out of the movie with greater respect for his art.

Meg L gave it a9:
This doc is really about love of the electric guitar. The old footage of each band is fantastic. Interesting that they included less biological history of Page, The Edge, and White and more of a focus on their influences and essentially how they became so enraptured in the instrument.

kyal b gave it a10:
Greatly documented and very well done overall. Great film.

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