Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Pavements

Play trailer 2:35 Poster for Pavements May 2025 2h 8m Documentary Biography Music Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
95% Tomatometer 60 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
It's not just a story about a band. It's a story about mankind.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Pavements

Pavements

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Directed with a wry personal touch by Alex Ross Perry, Pavements distinguishes itself as a music doc by not only paying affectionate tribute to its subject but also unpacking the cultural philosophy it personifies.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Nicolas Rapold Sight & Sound 4d
Part indie rock biopic, part absurdist jukebox-style stage musical, Alex Ross Perry’s kaleidoscopic portrait of the 1990s band Pavement is no ordinary music doc. Go to Full Review
Danny Leigh Financial Times Jul 14
5/5
And yet the film is droll but never snotty, richly inventive, and so smartly executed that reality blurs. Go to Full Review
Peter Bradshaw Guardian Jul 9
2/5
It is a palimpsest of approaches: four concepts placed on top of each other, but none can be seen clearly. For me, Perry’s masterpiece is still his 2015 drama Listen Up Philip. But this film might well provide something for the Pavement fanbase. Go to Full Review
John Serba Decider Aug 12
Perry tells this story in a rather head-spinning matter. Go to Full Review
Filipe Freitas Always Good Movies Jul 23
2/5
Sadly, Pavements fails to do justice to Stephen Malkmus and his unforgettable band. Go to Full Review
Adam Schoales That Shelf Jul 11
In many ways, Pavements defies categorization, but that’s what makes it so special and unique. It is undoubtedly unlike anything you’ll see this year, and probably unlike anything you’ll ever see again. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Loretta Jun 13 This was the perfect Pavement documentary. The humor, the peek backstage, the archival footage, the rehearsals, the musical, and Joe Keery as Stephen Malkmus was brilliant casting. See more AgeofAdhz Jun 13 As an OG Pavement fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this film but honestly could have done without so much of the “Range Life” mix film footage and just more Pavement footage. But overall, it was a fitting, lovely ode to one of the best bands of the 90s. See more Wayne M Dec 2 Pavements is the documentary you might have been asking for about the greatest band that ever existed. That band is Pavement. OK, I can't prove they are the greatest band ever, but I will believe it until a better band comes along. Pavement were my 90s and I was lucky to see them live back then as well as again in 2010 and 2022 on their reunion tours. This documentary is not straight forward as you might expect and probably hope for. It's very meta and very strange, but also completely compelling and wonderful. Director Alex Ross Perry follows Pavement on their 2022 tour, tracking rehearsals and live shows. We see the band coming together again. This is interspersed with older footage from their career, so you do get a sense of their history. But in amongst all that we see snippets from the Pavement exhibition in New York in 2022 and also the musical about the band in the same year. But where it gets strange and kind of wonderful is the making of the fictional film 'Range Life', that 'stars' Joe Keery and Jason Schwartzman. It's very strange and absurd, but I loved it. We see what makes Pavement so great, but also that they were willing to send themselves up. I never expected a Pavement documentary to play by the rules and I'm truly glad that this one never did. See more Harrison B @emailaddress Nov 19 Way better than the boring documentary about their drummer. Silly ideas make what should've been another boring band documentary pretty good. Also? Reminded me that Pavement has some good songs. See more S K Aug 26 I’ve been a fan since my buddy Pete gave me Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain for my birthday in 1995. And I got a chance to see them in Toronto during their 2010 reunion tour. And I continue to listen to them on the regular. With that background, I can say that this film is for hardcore fans only. It’s an “art for art’s sake” type of thing. Difficult, disjointed, ambitious. But not particularly enjoyable. See more Tom F Aug 15 On paper I should have been a fan of Pavement in their heyday, but they never really resonated with me then or during their unexpected recent revival. But they are a fascinating documentary subject. In a reverse Spinal Tap, the documentary features both a biopic and jukebox musical, simultaneously fake and real, of a band that is both actual but also maybe exists only in a dream. See more Read all reviews
Pavements

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Music by John Williams 100% 97% Music by John Williams Watchlist TRAILER for Music by John Williams Janis Ian: Breaking Silence 100% % Janis Ian: Breaking Silence Watchlist TRAILER for Janis Ian: Breaking Silence Carlos 100% 95% Carlos Watchlist TRAILER for Carlos The Rose: Come Back to Me % % The Rose: Come Back to Me Watchlist Louder Than You Think 88% % Louder Than You Think Watchlist TRAILER for Louder Than You Think Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis It's not just a story about a band. It's a story about mankind.
Director
Alex Ross Perry
Producer
Craig Butta, Alex Ross Perry, Robert Greene, Peter Klein, Danny Gabai, Lance Bangs, Alex Needles, Arrow Kruse, Chris Lombardi, Gerard Cosloy, Patrick Amory, Gabe Spierer
Screenwriter
Alex Ross Perry
Distributor
Utopia
Production Co
Alldayeveryday Productions
Genre
Documentary, Biography, Music
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 2, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 24, 2025
Runtime
2h 8m
Most Popular at Home Now