Watch Harmontown For Free

Who payed the critics

Good start, but then it gets ruined

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Like most of us, I learned about Dan Harmon through Community. Which, I learned early on, was based on his own experience at community college. Jeff, in particular, was based on him. Not that Dan's handsome, or a lawyer... but a jerk who only sees people as instruments to get what he wants. And then he tries to change. Jeff actually does change. And Dan?Well, Dan is still profoundly egocentric. In his year being fired from Community he started a podcast, in which ostensibly people have a chance to interact with him and become part of the show. In practice, he often turns the attention back to himself within three sentences.This documentary, produced by Harmon's own production company, is also called Harmontown, and is therefore also very much about Dan Harmon. There are attempts to shift the focus to breakout star Spencer Crittenden, but while Spencer's story certainly is interesting, Dan's exhibitionism steals the spotlight over and over again.As it should. Because the intriguing thing is that the "therapy" that this podcast and tour admittedly is, ultimately works. Dan makes a couple of mistakes along the tour (drinking too much moonshine, cursing at his girlfriend), talks about them on stage, and moves beyond them. And comes to the realization that "being egocentric is OK, if you want to be the person that makes other people happy". It's a small step, but a step towards knowing who he is, and seeing a way to improve that.The most profound scene comes when he decides to work on the network notes for a pilot with Erin. The network was puzzled by a guy in the script saying "The corporate people can never have creativity, but they'll have everything else". What's everything else? They brainstorm over that. Then there's a moment at the end where the guy sings a song, which turns the perspective around for (I think) his daughter. Why? Erin. "She needs to say something to him." Dan "Yeah". Erin "She says "so you can have your integrity, and they can have everything else"". Dan looks at her. Looks at the camera "So he'll change". Looks around "that means he'll change".I'm typing this up from memory, but that's basically what it boils down to. It's an absurdly beautiful moment where you see their relationship moving past their hangups about themselves and each other, and their art flow together, as just has to happen for two people who are so self-reflective in their work. The fact that the main character is a standin for Dan is so obvious it doesn't even need to be stated. He is and will remain at the core of his work. But he still might change.So is it a well made documentary? Yes. Is the subject matter examined well? Yes. Is it worth seeing? If you listen to Harmontown, absolutely. If you're only a fan of Community, try the podcast first. If the podcast doesn't do it for you, the film will only repel you further. If you're into none of it, but like character study documentaries, then I would suggest you watch it as well.

A documentary that follows Dan Harmon on tour for his podcast series after he was fired from "Community" in 2012.Dan Harmon was born in Milwaukee and graduated from Brown Deer High School in Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. He also attended Marquette University and Glendale Community College, later using his experiences at the community college to form the basis of the show "Community". Harmon was a member of ComedySportz Milwaukee and also (alongside Rob Schrab) a member of the sketch troupe The Dead Alewives.Why do I provide this biography of Harmon's early life? Because as a Wisconsin native, this intrigues me and makes me wonder how much of what Harmon has experienced translates to his writing, and how much of that retains a Wisconsin flavor. Indeed, with both Dead Alewives and "Community", he has referenced Dungeons and Dragons, another Wisconsin creation.After watching this documentary, I hope everyone watches the pilot for "Heat Vision and Jack". If you have never seen it ,you need to. And if you have, it has probably been a while and time for a review.

This is probably something that every huge Community fan is going to want to see. Sadly, it's not a documentary on Community itself, and I wish it had more to do in this. Still, this is pretty much everything one would expect from Dan Harmon, what he's like, his strategy, his goals. It's not a great film by any means, and for a documentary it's sort of aimless, but it's fun for the most part. It's interesting to really see the good in everyone even when it shows scenes that show Harmon being a jerk. This is probably going to feel like essential viewing for many, and in some ways it just may be. This is recommended, with reservations

This is a weird one... I haven't written many IMDb reviews but felt compelled to have a go for this one, which I suppose says something good about this movie (I wouldn't feel compelled by a generic YA sci-fi flick or cliché-driven rom-com).The short version is that there are brief hints of something really interesting here, but for the most part, it's pretty flat.The main problem, I think, is that the tour and podcast (the plot is Harmon going on tour cross-country to record episodes of his podcast, Harmontown) aren't what's interesting about Harmon. This guy 1) made the most expensive pilot in TV history which didn't get picked up but has a cult following 2) got fired from the Sarah Silverman Show for saying horrible things to her and 3) created a network sitcom, got fired from it and then re-hired back to it a year later. All of these things are really intriguing and would make pretty fascinating documentary material. Unfortunately, they're only touched on here for about 2-3 minutes each.Instead this doc is all about his podcast. To the point where this film feels like more of a promotional advertisement for that rather than a straight-forward documentary. And considering Harmon and his production company produced and released this doc, there's probably a high degree of truth to that. The words "creative" and "genius" get thrown around a lot, and they really play up the gushing fans.In fact, that's the other off-putting thing about this doc. The running theme here is that Harmon created a sitcom about "misfits" and now these "social outcasts" and "nerds" (the film's terms, used repeatedly throughout) are all brought together by Harmon. They just keep returning to this same point. Harmon often says it himself, directly to the camera. The film presents it all like this amazing, touching cultural phenomena where Harmon unites a generation and brings these people hope. They keep cutting to still shots of the fans' faces (who he even calls "Har-minions") as if this is really profound. It's really forced, and some heavy-handed piano cues laid over otherwise utterly unaffecting moments certainly don't help. Plus, if I were one of those fans, I think I'd find the portrayal insulting. Maybe they don't all see themselves as desperate weirdos in need of an idol, but functional adults who just thought his show would be funny?The one other thing this film tries to force is the idea that the "real hero" of this documentary is the Dungeons and Dragons fan they have on tour with them. He's a 20-something guy who showed up ("out of his mom's basement") to one of their shows. He loved D&D so much, they brought him along on the tour so they could play; and his story is clearly meant to mirror the fans'; he's a social misfit outcast who comes to the show and is given hope and meaning. He's presented as the lovable darling of the film (he's the only person in this doc where we also see his home life, etc), but really you just want to cut away from this kid and get back to the star, Harmon, who's funny (when he's not incoherently drunk), tragic, and has the good stories.And when they do get back to Harmon, there are interesting moments. Besides the missed opportunities mentioned above, there are scenes where he fights with his girlfriend (who would've made a much better "heart" of the film than that D&D guy), an inside glimpse of editing the podcast to remove the "shame-based" moments, or phone calls with network executives about script rewrites, all of which will make you sit up and pay attention again. More of that! But there's actually very little.It's like Wild Man Blues. Remember that documentary about Woody Allen made in the 90s - but he would only consent to the documentary if it was exclusively about his music? So they never talk about his films or his fascinating career. They don't dare bring up his controversial relationships with Mia Farrow, her adopted daughter or the abuse charges against him. They just follow him around on his tour, filming him play clarinet with his buddies. The whole movie is this bizarre "elephant in the room" scenario where no one is allowed to discuss any of what everyone really cares about. ...Eventually, years later, a "real" documentary of Woody Allen and his works was released, and now Wild Man Blues is just an obscure little footnote (it's never even been released on DVD), strangled at birth by the subjects' controlling ego.I think this film is a similar footnote. It's 90 minutes of "subscribe to my podcast; I'm king of the nerds!" and frustrating cutaways from the few real moments. Maybe ten years later, a production company that isn't owned by Harmon will come along and make a second film of the interesting stuff. Or not. I mean, I've seen a couple episodes of Community and his shelved pilot (the novelty of the premise is amusing at first but wears off long before it's over - can't imagine how he thought it could last for a whole series). This guy isn't on the level of Woody Allen. He is a watchable person, and I'd return for a film about his bouncing around LA, hired and fired from various TV shows, and how that effects his personal life. But I can't really recommend Harmontown unless you have the patience to sift through a lot of marketing propaganda for a few tiny morsels. I mean, I don't know - how did you feel about Wild Man Blues?P.s. - All the big name stars you see on the poster, like Jack Black and Ben Stiller? They're all in this for about 30 seconds apiece. So if you're watching this for them, you're going to be disappointed.