Good start, but then it gets ruined

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Way back in the day, for my friends and me, it was all about rebellion against the mainstream, and the Cowsills seemed about as mainstream as you could get. You could just look at them and be pretty sure that while we were dropping acid and blowing our minds with Abbey Road, they were downing Hostess Twinkies and hanging out with their mom and little sister. Well, it turns out that they were a bunch of very talented and fun people who accomplished a whole lot more than my wasted friends and I ever did. You get to know them and like them in this movie, and hear all about the extreme ups and downs of their lives. It's great, I'm glad they seem to have hung together as a family, although a number of them have died. I think Susan is my favorite. How could you not cheer for a precocious little girl with seven big brothers. One thing that's kind of interesting to me is that they all appear to be very self-confident and outgoing people, both now and as kids, despite their tumultuous upbringing. It makes me ponder the "nature vs nurture" thing, especially since nurture was lacking in that household. Anyway, a really good movie, I enjoyed it and have done a complete 180 regarding my opinion of the Cowsills... they are fantastic!

Hailing from Newport, Rhode Island, the Cowsills, harmonious teen and pre-teen siblings in the 1960s, are driven into show business by sheer talent and a love of music--but also by their domineering father, who pushed open doors. Bud Cowsill, an ex-Navy recruiter with no love in his heart (though with an apparent ear for commercial pop music, for which he isn't really given his due here), is the mysterious question-mark roaming through this documentary. An alcoholic, and perhaps bipolar and sexually abusive towards relatives and his own daughter, Bud pulled the strings and got his kids (and his wife, Barbara, who joined the group in time for their first album) on television and on the charts. He is painted as a walking powder keg, explosive and reckless and irrational...but what would have happened to the group without his input? The aging kids, now embittered, splintered and scattered, have nothing good to say about their sonuvabitch father, whom they blame for destroying the band. It's an extremely one-sided film, with the surviving principals leaving no room for discussion, though the well-researched clips and music snippets are enjoyable, as is the reunion concert at the finale. **1/2 from ****

The story of the Cowsills easily could have been summed up in 60 minutes--or much less. This is because so much of the thrust is how much the family patriarch was an abusive and hateful jerk. But after a while, it all became a bit numbing. It's a lot more like listening to family members gripe about a mutually hated family member in therapy instead of a documentary. The Cowsills, if you remember them, were a family singing group that went on to inspire the creation of the television show "The Partridge Family". However, unlike the TV show, the real family was NOT happy nor did they particularly enjoy their success. It seems that the father, Bud, was incredibly destructive, violent, abusive and evil. And, when the group was past their glory days, they realized that there was no money! They'd sold millions of records but the money was gone! All that I just told you was told in the first half hour...and there was still an hour more to go! Much of the rest of the film consists of talking about family dysfunction, early deaths and depression. And, eventually, the surviving members of the group began to talk about their awful father...and this pretty much makes up the rest of the movie.The bottom line is that the film was numbing. Yes, Bud Cowsill was a horrendous person...but after a while it all sounded repetitive and overly long. This all left little time for the post-we hate Bud Cowsill segment where the family learned to finally care about each other. All in all, fascinating and depressing at the same time.

"Growing up in the bay area with "Live" acid rock from the likes of Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and The Holding Company and never listening to AM Radio, I suppose I missed all the hoopla on The Cowsills Story." But thanks to these wonderful Filmmakers, I got to see just how bad they were! There is no way you are going to convince this real flower child that the Cowsills made anything close to good music. The flaw in the doc is that they only talk to folks close to the band and the remaining band-members themselves. They forgot to talk to all of us that hated bands like this. The Cowsills, The Monkees.. my god, you can't get any worse! So now on with the review: The doc is great even though it hugs their awful music. Extremely candid and unobtrusive. America's Family gone to all hell for sure is told in a way that you hate the abusive Father that made the whole thing up. Punching out his own boys, abusing his daughter and wrecking recording contracts is the perfect fit when it comes to the "stage father" out for the cash and not caring who gets in the way. The Films paints a vivid picture of how easily kids can be swayed into anything a parent in this case makes them all do. Be a band, be sweet to everyone, lie about your life at home and ask for top dollar. When Shirley Jones testifies to herself asking why the Producers of The Partridge Family didn't use the real Cowsills? She got "Their not actors" as a bad answer. Actually I disagree, the mature Cowsills could have their own Reality Show with all the fighting, the healing and the mess their Father made of their lives still happening after all these years.This Doc is in your face, hard hitting and provocative. But then its splattered with that pastel pop music that makes one physically sick.. well at least in my case. Talented, no way Jose.. a 2 hit wonder.. yes! Another story of Babylon but at least its not a Hollywood disaster this time. If you can get around the music, this one as a lesson of bad management and abuse in the music biz should not be missed.