The Doors: When You're Strange

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The Doors: When You're Strange

R

Released Apr 9, 2010

1h 30m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

60%

Tomatometer

70 Reviews

82%

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1,000+ Ratings

A history of Jim Morrison and the Doors includes archival footage of concert performances, recording sessions, and backstage scenes.

Critics Consensus

It's far from a critical assessment of the band's music or its legacy, but When You're Strange gives fans a beautifully filmed, lovingly assembled tribute to the Doors.

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Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

When You're Strange offers a worshipful but insightful portrait of the group...

Rated: 3/4

Jul 6, 2010

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David Gritten

Daily Telegraph (UK)

This is a far better bet than Oliver Stone's ghastly Doors movie.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 6, 2010

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

The cumulative effect of this film is to enhance one's respect for The Doors (John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek) and to diminish the same for Morrison, whose posturing now looks like the most fatuous exhibitionism.

Rated: 2/5

Jul 2, 2010

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James McMahon

NME (New Musical Express)

The surviving Doors shouldn't hate Oliver Stone so much - his movie portrays them as a better band than this does. He made a better movie too.

Rated: 1.5/5

May 19, 2021

Full Review

Gemma James

CineVue

Reaffirms Jim Morrison as a rock legend, a poet in his own rite and a spiritual and sexual messiah, who opened the doors of perception for his generation and all those to follow.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 5, 2018

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Benjamin H. Smith

Decider

...it lazily recycles all the same tired myths about Jim Morrison being "like an ancient shaman," and "A rock and roll poet, dangerous and highly intelligent," that we've been reading in solipsistic '60s holdovers like Rolling Stone for the last 50 years.

Jan 24, 2018

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Audience Member

Great film great band.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Audience Member

The best documentary about the history of The Doors. Great for every Doors fan.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Edward G

I'm not a fan of the Doors. I kind of enjoyed this . I liked it a lot more than the Oliver stone film about the Doors , and I even learned some stuff . I didn't know that the Doors had so many gold records . I could have really done without all those strange flash forwards of an actor playing Jim Morison crashing his car and hearing about his own death on the radio.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/26/19

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Audience Member

Do yourself a favor and just read their wikipedia article...its more compelling than this documentary.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

An interesting demystification, but Depp's ever present narration leaves several questions unanswered, and is sometimes a bit too front and centre stage. As a movie it does work well, though just sweeping you along rather than putting you through the wringer.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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Audience Member

Great footage I've never seen before. Hey; it worked well for him...but was Jim ever sober?

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Tom DiCillo

Director

Johnny Depp

Narrator

Jim Ladd

Voice

Tom DiCillo

Screenwriter

Dick Wolf

Producer

John Beug

Producer

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Synopsis

A history of Jim Morrison and the Doors includes archival footage of concert performances, recording sessions, and backstage scenes.

Director: Tom DiCillo
Producer: Dick Wolf, John Beug, Jeff Jampol, Peter Jankowski, Bill Guttentag
Screenwriter: Tom DiCillo
Distributor: Abramorama
Production Co: Wolf Films, Strange Pictures
Rating: R (Language|Drug Material|Nudity|Some Sexual Content Incl Ref)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 9, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $238.6K
Runtime: 1h 30m

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