X
- 2021
- TV-MA
- HBO Max
- 1 h 50 m
- 2021
- TV-MA
- HBO Max
- 1 h 50 m
Summary Woodstock 99, a three-day music festival promoted to echo unity and counterculture idealism of the original 1969 concert but instead devolved into riots, looting and sexual assaults.
Directed By: Garret Price
- 2021
- TV-MA
- HBO Max
- 1 h 50 m
- 2021
- TV-MA
- HBO Max
- 1 h 50 m
Woodstock 99: Peace Love and Rage
73
3.5
Where to Watch
Summary Woodstock 99, a three-day music festival promoted to echo unity and counterculture idealism of the original 1969 concert but instead devolved into riots, looting and sexual assaults.
Directed By: Garret Price
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
73
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
13% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
73
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
13% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Setting aside its subjects’ lack of diversity, “Woodstock 99” is a must-watch documentary that reminds us, yet again, about history’s inevitable ability to repeat itself.
Director Garret Price was right. This is no period-piece dark comedy. On many levels, it’s a horror film.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 30 User Ratings
3.5
37% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
7% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
57% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 30 User Ratings
3.5
37% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
7% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
57% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
I thought it was an 8 but I gave it a 10 to try and offset some of these disingenuous negative reviews from people who obviously didn’t watch the movie. Yes it is about white male rage but it does not demonize white people. How sad do you have to be to get on here and leave an obviously fake review because you’re offended by the label, ironically enough, a modern form of white male rage.
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Let’s get to it: This is not a definitive accounting of a sprawling, stupidly organized gathering of a few hundred thousand people on a jet-black tarmac of a monolithic abandoned military base in July of 1999 for the purpose of mosh pitting, deliberately busting sewage pipes, sexual assaulting seemingly every woman in attendance, tearing down equipment and burning it while dancing about like witches at a coven. Yeah, it was a 95% white male crowd hoping to reenact Lord of the Flies by the end. That’s the reality some don’t want to see. Too bad. That happened, too. But then, nothing could be could be definitive. Such an event can’t be summarized in 2 hours. What is clear is that the organizers were completely out of their depth and past their prime. This doc isn’t fair to everyone (Fred Durst is a semi-literate jag but he did care about the crowd) but they certainly give the organizers a chance to explain themselves. And boy do they, in some of the most arrogant, crude, and dismissive soundbites imaginable. They blame everyone- MTV, Fred Durst, Brad Pitt, topless women, the list goes on- but never once do they self-reflect and say, “We certainly could have made sure water was allowed in the event. Maybe food would have been a good idea. Yeah, working, safe, private showers might have been handy. Working toilets that can handle such a mass of people? I guess that should’ve been there.” You had a good time if you were there? Great. Your experience is yours. This film is about the big picture. If decades have a way of repeating themselves, look for an even uglier record of the end of the 2020s.
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Woodstock 99 makes a compelling case that the sewage from that weekend didn't stop flowing when the music stopped, metaphorically if not literally.
While the Fyre Festival was infamous for its crowded venue, poor infrastructure, and slowly devolving sense of social order, Woodstock '99 feels like the OG version of that kind of entertainment trainwreck.
I have problems with some of the ways Price tells his story and some of the access he was able to get, but his documentary is more thoughtful than it necessarily needed to be.
This hard-hitting doc is like Summer of Soul in reverse — instead of a feel-good music celebration, it’s a long day’s journey into “Break Stuff.”
A lot like many of the noisy artists on display, “Woodstock 99” has a lot to say, says it loudly but fails to connect in any meaningful way.
This rock documentary is a bummer, but it’s meant to be. If you like your rock documentaries with a lot of pretentious, smug, self-righteous moralizing, then you’re going to love this one. The documentary says a lot about the zeitgeist of 1999, but it also says a lot about the zeitgeist of 2021 in that all of the “experts” who are interviewed are extremely uptight, judgmental, and rigid. They’re so preoccupied with criticizing the Woodstock 99 attendee that they’ve forgotten that rock n’ roll is supposed to be about rebellion and subversion, not suppression and finger-pointing. Is it possible that the Woodstock 99 attendees actually had…fun? How dare they!!!
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Great review of the event, lots of great footage from a crazy event. It was spoiled by hot takes from liberal journalists and commentators, Moby was cringy! The eye witnesses were great and gave great accounts! Hearing from the band was cool too. They tried very hard to turn this into one of today's political arguments, it's just not that. It was a way crazier event than I thought though. Unfortunately, you don't want to miss this so just suffer through the liberal bs.
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Like the actual Woodstock '99, this documentary is badly planned, poorly executed, and hopes to recapture the Fyre of its superior forebear.
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Entertaining… but the film tries a little too hard to weave a narrative connecting the events of a single ridiculous music festival with our current culture war silliness. If you can get past all the cringe pontificating historical relativism, the part of the film dedicated to the organizational snafu is compelling tv. Oh yeah, is it really necessary to go after has-beens like Kid Rock and Fred Durst? Can you really punch down more than that? I found the true villain of this film to be none other than Moby. My god that man seems like the most nauseating assclown you could ever end up having to talk to at a dinner party. Eminem was right.
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