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THE SPARKS BROTHERS

"Entertaining and Informative, but Extreme Caution Advised"

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What You Need To Know:

THE SPARKS BROTHERS is a documentary recounting the history of the band Sparks. Sparks has released 25 albums in 50 years. Led by the brother duo of Russell and Ron Mael, it’s survived an unbelievable rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. The movie asks how a band can be both highly acclaimed by critics and musicians and yet be vastly underrated by the public. To answer this question, it uses interviews with dozens of celebrities including the singer Beck, “Weird Al” Yankovic and star bassist Flea. The interviews show viewers the high esteem that the music industry has for Sparks. The movie uses a stream of archival footage and performance imagery to bring its story to life.

THE SPARKS BROTHERS is a highly entertaining, funny, informative look at success on one’s own terms, helped along by strong family bonds between brothers. It’s designed for mature moviegoers to enjoy. The R rating is mostly for about 10 “f” words. Besides some cross-dressing references, there’s also some light violence, brief nudity and a few lewd moments in THE SPARKS BROTHERS. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(RoRo, B, Ho, C, Cap, LL, V, S, NN, A, DD, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong Romantic worldview promotes personal expression in art without any guidelines, with some moral elements promoting family, integrity and honesty, plus cross dressing references, and mention of a band having an LGBT following, no mention of religion, positive or negative, is made, but the band sings a song “Number One Song in Heaven” in an archival clip in the middle of the movie and again during the end credits (the song imagines they have the number one song in Heaven), and light pro-capitalist elements about a rock band trying to succeed, sell albums, etc.

Foul Language:
18 obscenities (including about 10 “f” words) and one OMG profanity

Violence:
References to a parent who died when two men were young boys, violent clips from old movies, including westerns, include a crowd rioting, a nail driven in a hand, a car tumbling off a cliff, plus a bloody head injury is recreated with a clay model

Sex:
A man is seen in several photos and a few of brief video clips cross-dressing as a joke, which gives him and his band an LGBT following, according to the movie, and man jokingly says he’s “slightly horny,” when he’s asked his sexual orientation

Nudity:
Upper female nudity in see-through bra and quick image of a nude man with a sock over his genitals

Alcohol Use:
Light references to alcohol use including drinking beer and drinking in a bar

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
Images of smoking and a reference to being on drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Nothing else objectionable.

More Detail:

THE SPARKS BROTHERS is a documentary recounting the history of the band Sparks, which has released 25 albums in 50 years and survived an unbelievable rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, all the while led by the brother duo of Russell and Ron Mael. THE SPARKS BROTHERS is a highly entertaining, funny and informative look at success on one’s terms, helped along by a strong family bond, but it has strong non-Christian, Romantic elements with some “f” words, two light lewd moments and references to LGBT fans and cross-dressing jokes. Helmed by innovative director Edgar Wright (ANT-MAN, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, BABY DRIVER), the movie employs his distinctive style and wacky sense of humor throughout to create a documentary that’s as fun as it is informative.

THE SPARKS BROTHERS movie asks how a band can be both highly acclaimed by critics and musicians and yet be vastly underrated by the general public. To answer this question, Director Edgar Wright uses interviews with dozens of celebrities including the singer Beck, “Weird Al” Yankovic and star bassist Flea. The interviews show viewers the high esteem with which Sparks is held by the music industry. Wright then uses a seemingly endless stream of archival footage and performance imagery from their multi-faceted, ever-evolving career to bring their story to vibrant life.

Ron is the older brother, keyboardist and songwriter for the band, and has sported either a Hitler/Chaplin mustache or a pencil-thin one throughout his career. Russell is the younger, more handsome brother who sings their songs and leads dynamic live performances with strutting energy that rivals Mick Jagger. Together, they created music that “Weird Al” Yankovic describes as a “comedy rock band,” filled with absurd lyrics and a hilarious visual aesthetic that stretches across their onstage behavior and through their music videos to their comically outrageous album covers.

The Mael brothers have leaped from one musical genre to another throughout their 50-year career, from straightforward rock to disco to punk, and even to electronic dance music. Many of their albums and visual aesthetics are shown to be trendsetting and often decades ahead of their time, which has hindered their commercial prospects throughout their still-ongoing run.

Yet, despite their struggles, particularly during a devastating six-year dry period from 1988 to 1994, their innate brotherly support for each other always kept them afloat and gave them a resilient spirit that provides a good lesson for any viewers to learn from. The documentary also shows a conflicted history with capitalism for the brothers, who have managed to do pretty-well for five decades by operating completely on their own creative instincts, although their refusal to follow record-company directives has hindered their ability to break really big in the musical field.

A couple minutes of the movie show images of Ron cross-dressing for some of their album cover photos. The movie makes it clear he’s heterosexual, but he enjoyed cross-dressing for some photo shoots as a joke. The movie notes that, as a result, the band has many LGBT fans.

Overall, however, this is a highly entertaining movie for mature viewers to enjoy and discover a truly innovative, hard-working band of brothers. THE SPARKS BROTHERS movie is rated R for about 10 “f” words and other lesser obscenities. Besides the cross-dressing references, there’s also some light violence, a few light lewd moments and brief nudity. Mature viewers with artistic ambitions, including some young adults, might learn a lot from how these brothers have had such a long career. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for THE SPARKS BROTHERS movie.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.