Not Fade Away
User Score
5.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 3 out of 8

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  1. Mab_987
    Dec 29, 2012
    9
    As an avid music fan & aspiring rock musician, I was very interested when I saw the trailer for this movie, and all that interested was definitely justfied, and then some, because Not Fade Away is simply fantastic. First of all, I appreciate that rather than being centered around the big & famous musicians like a lot of similar films would do, this film follows a band, The Twylight Zones, that suffers a lot & even ends on a rather bleak & ambiguous note as to whether or not they'll make it as a band at all. Not only that, but the characters here all seem very realistic. There are no cheap one-note stereotypes or clear antagonists, but rather a group of generally reasonable people that run into very believable problems & misunderstandings. Something like this definitely helps with the relatability factor. Another thing to note is that this is set in the mid-late 60s, and even as someone who was born decades after this time, I could easily believe that the settings here are accurate, with possible minor embellishements here & there for added effect. Steven Van Zandt produced this, and it's very easy to tell that a musician was involved with this. Even though I don't have an impressive amount of band experience yet, a lot of subtleties of being a musican are covered here, mainly in the songwriting process. Speaking of the music, in addition to great older songs being used very often (which would be implied in a film like this) the original song here main character Doug wrote about his breakup, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, is also very impressive, and I'm so glad they released the soundtrack on iTunes cause it's a genuinely good song. M only real gripe with this movie is the last minute, where a girl starts talking to the camera & dancing in the middle of the street. It just lost me there, and would've been much better if it ended on what was happening rght before that. Overall, Not Fade Away is a very well-rounded movie, creating moments that are fun, emotional, relatable & sweet, while never losing focus & keeping a very good & steady pace, making it's over 2 hour running time very justified.… Collapse

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 27
  3. Negative: 1 out of 27
  1. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    Jan 4, 2013
    38
    I hope his life was less dull than the movie he's made from it.
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  2. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    Jan 4, 2013
    40
    Now that his passion project is out of the way, I look forward to seeing what Chase does next. He's sure to have his editor's pen back in hand by then.
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  3. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    Jan 3, 2013
    63
    The highlight of Not Fade Away, a meandering and bittersweet coming-of-age story, is its killer '60s pop-rock soundtrack.
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