The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
HBO Documentary Films | Release Date (Streaming): December 12, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubGwen IhnatDec 9, 2020
The doc’s examination of the band’s creative process contains some of its most riveting moments. Read full review
90
CNNBrian LowryDec 13, 2020
The Bee Gees were adored, hated and as seen through Marshall's lens, somewhat forgotten. Yet after watching this documentary, even if you didn't have an especially deep love for the band in their heyday, you might find yourself humming those tunes all over again. Read full review
90
Washington PostHank StueverDec 11, 2020
An exemplary lesson in how to make a revealing rockumentary, “The Bee Gees” (premiering Saturday) will satisfy lifelong skeptics and loyal fans. It’s less of the usual tract (we had them all wrong!) and more of a reckoning with the profound degree of artistry and accomplishment that should be the last word on any Bee Gees story. The movie is also a unique consideration of the phenomenon of rise and fall, and how one learns to live with it. Read full review
83
ConsequenceRobert DanielsDec 7, 2020
With a jukebox parade that will invite viewers to inevitably sing-along to classic earworms, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart is the Bee Gees documentary you’ve been waiting for. It’s a fitting tribute to their unending love for each other. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanDec 13, 2020
In its middlebrow celebratory way, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart reveals the Bee Gees’ saga to be one of the most fascinating and, at times, awe-inspiring in the history of pop. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenDec 12, 2020
Its story beats are so irresistible, the arc of its trio of big-haired disco titans so snappy, the music so contagious, that it soars like a Barry Gibb falsetto above the clichés. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeDec 12, 2020
As the band explains in this excellent documentary from Frank Marshall (whose odd career has taken in Arachnophobia, Congo and Alive), it took them five months to go from obscurity in Australia to careering about swinging London with The Beatles. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyDec 12, 2020
This is a rock documentary that doesn’t just recount a band’s rise, breakup, and successful reunion, though it does do that. It invites its audience to see the band’s success from a deeper, more contextualized point of view. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 12, 2020
It’s not particularly revelatory for fans, covering such a long expanse of time that it’s perhaps necessarily a little shallow in places. It is, however, a sometimes fascinating look at a career that had highs and lows even fans may not know about, as well as the tricky dynamics of creating music with your family. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanDec 12, 2020
Grooving through the decades, this entertaining documentary aspires to prove that the Bee Gees were more than a hitmaker for disco nightclubs. Rather, Barry, Maurice and Robin were master songwriters and chameleons, continually reinventing themselves to harmonize with the times. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyDec 3, 2020
For both diehard and casual fans, Marshall's entertainingly packaged film delivers a nostalgic tour back over the decades that shines a deserving spotlight on the group's artistry, an element too frequently overshadowed by their phenomenal chart reign. Read full review
60
The GuardianAndrew PulverDec 11, 2020
An interesting, grown-up musical profile. Read full review
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