The captivating sight of Madonna slobbishly supping soup while chatting subserviently to her father in 1991s warts n all documentary In Bed With Madonna showed that, despite elevating celebrities to godlike status, we have rapacious curiosity for their apparent normality. Well, In Bed With... seems transparently stage-managed compared to this bullshit-free glimpse of a world-class rock act facing implosion.
Ostensibly chronicling the making of the St. Anger album, theres little music on hand. Instead, a fractured family faces, via therapy, every embarrassing detail in order to rebuild itself, while this group of middle-aged men struggle to maintain their firebrand ideologies.
We witness bassist Jason Newsteds departure, singer Hetfields unannounced 11-month sojourn into rehab, the PR disaster of drummer Ulrichs war with Napster
Frankly, the band doesnt come off well. Hetfields a control freak, Ulrichs a hypocrite and guitarist Hammett is pathetically non-confrontational. Yet the doc isnt a hatchet job, rather encouraging sympathy by capturing plenty of heart-breaking sadness.
