Glover's Warhol would be fine without the weird tongue business that sexualizes the scene; other screen Warhols of the time, including David Bowie's, are mentioned. — Chuck Klosterman
Runtime; reporter girlfriend subplot; Meg Ryan as Pam; Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama; Wayne's World 2 parody; wigs; desert special effects; Doors missing Woodstock; easy fact-checking; the film's potential audience today
The movie is 25 minutes too long; the reporter girlfriend could be cut to a minute like Mimi Rogers' photographer, and the timeline of Jim's girlfriends and the Wiccan subplot, later negated by "I was stoned," is superfluous.
Teased as the all-time aged worst: Meg Ryan as Pam was horribly miscast, like Meg Ryan in a wig in a different movie; Stone later disowned the casting. — Bill Simmons
A reply calls it a thankless part as Stone conceived it, criticized by people around the Doors, though she does seem to be in another movie.
A different view: she is not that bad, seems to impersonate Nicole Kidman on the roof (Kidman would have been better), and is funny at Thanksgiving; the role was central partly because her family contributed. — Chuck Klosterman
There was controversy over nude scenes Stone required of whoever took the part; it ended up halfway. — Chuck Klosterman
Kevin Dillon reads as Johnny Drama; Entourage should have made the Doors drummer Drama's best role. — Bill Simmons
Wayne's World 2 parodied the Native American material, which a son did not understand. — Bill Simmons
The wigs are terrible on everyone except Morrison, with Ed Sullivan even joking about hair. — Bill Simmons
The desert drug special effects are dated, and the witch reporter girlfriend is noted again. — Bill Simmons
The film is a reminder the Doors were not invited to Woodstock, a giant miss where they might have stolen the show or been the worst band. — Bill Simmons
It would be hard to be the worst band there, but drunk Jim could have; by 1968-69 the Doors were moving into something darker than the hippie movement. — Chuck Klosterman
The office scene where everyone tells Jim they were not invited to Woodstock is another expository gem. — Chris Ryan
Allegations about Stone's casting process surfaced during Me Too in 2017, with Malora Hardin (as spoken), Melissa Gilbert and an actress named Caitlin O'Haney (as spoken) (who broke a non-disclosure agreement) speaking out; listeners are pointed to research it themselves. — Bill Simmons
What has not aged well: a biopic today is easily fact-checked, unlike 1991, which would have hurt Stone; critics would dwell on invented scenes rather than, as in Ebert's review, a self-destructive man. — Chuck Klosterman
Offered hesitantly: the potential audience has aged worse, as a new viewer feels an obligation to have the film declare Morrison a bad person, whereas in 1991 that was not a conversation. — Chuck Klosterman
Counter: it was assumed then that the character was a sociopath; one view says that is why movies are less interesting now. — Chuck Klosterman
Selling-out concern; Oliver Stone's film-professor cameo; Top Gun connection; Break On Through performance; death theme; closing credits; Doors music; Frank Whaley's guitar playing
The concept of selling out with commercials, a big concern in 1991 (Michael Stipe would never have allowed it), tells more about 1991 than the 60s; Morrison's reaction resembles what one would expect of Cobain. — Chuck Klosterman
Stone's cameo as a film professor holds up for the thick, fake-looking goatee and a workshop that pisses on Morrison's film. — Chris Ryan
The Top Gun connection: Iceman and Goose's wife as the leads. — Bill Simmons
Jim turning around and the Break On Through performance. — Bill Simmons
The theme of death, with the bald man moving closer to Jim through the film, is well done; he looks like Jeff Bezos. — Bill Simmons
The closing credits bring in L.A. Woman, missing from the film, with the credits ending on "and Val Kilmer is Jim Morrison." — Bill Simmons
The Doors music sounds good, though this speaker never had a Doors period and came to it through Apocalypse Now; Frank Whaley convincingly plays guitar and is called the second-best person in the movie, with agreement. — Chris Ryan
Kevin Dillon looks like he is drumming; it is unclear whether McLaughlin (as spoken) can play organ, as he always plays the top and bottom keyboards at once.
Light My Fire rehearsal through the everything's-taking-off montage and Ed Sullivan; the early fan-mania scene; the Miami sequence from backstage to performance
The opening is liked but left out; the film-school scene is enjoyed; the first scene with Jim and Ray on the beach is picked, from "great fucking lyrics" to "people want to fight or fuck," setting up the 60s in three sentences, called a great four minutes. — Bill Simmons
Kilmer is not singing well yet on the beach, and later works out a raspier drunk-Jim voice. — Bill Simmons
The likely pick is the first band rehearsal where Light My Fire comes together in about two minutes. — Chuck Klosterman
A good detail is Morrison walking through the rough chord changes; the speed seems crazy, but it shows how a band turns one member's rough version into a song. — Chuck Klosterman
The organ intro gets worked out during a five-minute break; the path-to-a-hit device is loved here and in That Thing You Do and the NWA movie. — Bill Simmons
The first live performance of The End at the Whiskey is incredible and hilarious, along with the short scene where he will not face the crowd and then turns around. — Bill Simmons
The crowd at that show is unrealistically attractive compared with real rock shows like a Poison concert. — Bill Simmons
Stone captures the band's early mania in a news-camera style; on the plane each member states name and occupation (Manzarek, Densmore as percussionist, Krieger), the girlfriend is introduced as an ornament and Morrison just says "Jim," which drew theater laughter. — Chuck Klosterman
It is hard to recall what he knew about the Doors at 19, including whether he read No One Here Gets Out Alive before or after the movie. — Chuck Klosterman
The everything's-taking-off montage and the character reset are loved, compared with a favorite Boogie Nights deleted scene; it leads into Ed Sullivan. — Chuck Klosterman
The New Haven 1968 concert used 4,000 extras over five days, which seemed new for a concert scene; the announcer sounds like Mike Francesa; The Blues Brothers' concert was probably about 1,000 people, and films like the first two Rockies cheated with extras. — Bill Simmons
The Thanksgiving dinner where Pam meets Patricia over a duck is very funny, with the knife and the quoted confrontation.
The Thanksgiving scene and the closet-fire scene are both made up; odd details like the burnt duck make it seem real, a Stone trick also used in JFK, and the invented closet fire effectively casts Morrison as a murderer. — Chuck Klosterman
The scene reflects a type of man who invites both women to extend his power over them; the real Pam and Patricia were reportedly cordial. — Chuck Klosterman
Pam's family was involved in the movie and there is a rumor she bought the heroin; in the scene she only wants him to wait on the acid, so she was not advocating sobriety. — Chuck Klosterman
Drunk Jim recording Touch Me might be the single best scene, followed by his outburst over the Light My Fire commercial ($75,000; Feliciano had sold 2 million). — Bill Simmons
The short plane scene with Madsen before Miami ("what are you going to do for act three") and Morrison asking for heroin on the plane are liked. — Chuck Klosterman
In Miami, drunk Jim insults everyone, then police and the Native American figure appear and he glides through the crowd; called one of the coolest two-minute scenes of the era and the film's peak.
The real Miami concert audio is on YouTube, but the Kilmer version is called better. — Chris Ryan
The Miami backstage stretch is a favorite: everyone voicing their feelings, peyote with Krieger, and a journalist dictating that The Soft Parade was disappointing while Densmore listens. — Chris Ryan
Kevin Dillon's "we took drugs to expand our minds, not to escape" is something no drug user says; Stone co-wrote with Randall Johnson (as spoken).
Stone oddly emphasizes Morrison's impotence (coke, blood); the Wiccan blood marriage could be cut from a two-hour-20-minute movie. — Chuck Klosterman
Stone handles the transgressive background (Ed Sullivan, decency laws, Manson) in a minute or two while lingering on rants, Wiccan ceremonies, shamanism and the desert. — Chuck Klosterman
The Ed Sullivan scene is dramatized: the Stones visibly protested their lyric change, but in the actual Doors performance they just play the song and he does not change the lyric; the scene contrasts wholesome acts with the band. — Chuck Klosterman
A short book about the band by Grill Marcus (as spoken) is cited: people were not shocked by The End at the Whiskey; the lyrics signaled a different way to live, which the movie does not convey except in the on-the-nose beach scene. — Chuck Klosterman
The last scene of the band together, which first seemed like heaven, is enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
Favorite rewatchable scene: Light My Fire all the way through the everything's-taking-off montage and Ed Sullivan. — Bill Simmons
Favorite scene is the "first time they're present" (as transcribed), for the mania, with a woman kissing him and the girlfriend hitting him with a purse; the live performances run a bit long. — Chuck Klosterman
Picks the whole Miami sequence, from backstage to the performance. — Chris Ryan
