The Go-Go's
Showtime Networks | Release Date (Streaming): July 31, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
92
TheWrapTodd GilchristJul 29, 2020
The Go-Go’s tackles the seminal all-female ’80s rock band with such honesty, openness and effervescence that it not only rises above that clichéd, almost telegraphed arc but transcends the ranks of other music documentaries to offer a story you desperately want to keep watching, even when you already know where it’s going. Read full review
90
Washington PostHank StueverJul 30, 2020
Although The Go-Go’s works marvelously as a scrapbook that will surely delight the viewer who wants to remember the catchy songs and saucy attitudes, it’s also the first time that the band’s story has been rendered as a cultural triumph instead of a cautionary tale. Read full review
90
Film ThreatSabina Dana PlasseJul 29, 2020
Well-executed interviews of key people and all band members, along with excellent animation and archival research, The Go-Go’s reveals a story of talent, will, friendship, addiction, and forgiveness. The backdrop of the male-dominated music business highlights that these ladies who have stayed brash and whipsmart have always been entirely punk. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 29, 2020
Like the elements of a good hit song, it all comes together and seems fresh. It may sound like something you’ve heard before, but it also sounds new. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 30, 2020
[A] comprehensive and expertly rendered documentary. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubGwen IhnatJul 30, 2020
Ellwood’s most valuable views are these more candid, honest looks, as there’s something refreshing about the band coming clean, revealing all its dirty laundry in a no-holds-barred manner. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyJul 31, 2020
This engaging, sturdily guided film from director Alison Ellwood (American Jihad, Laurel Canyon) argues forcefully that there is more depth and value to a group that fought and celebrated, broke up and reconciled, burned out and rocked hard for four decades. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonJul 30, 2020
As director Alison Ellwood shows in her briskly entertaining documentary—The Go-Go’s—the band’s members can explain away, with enormous charm, the naked ambition that made them the most successful “girl group” ever. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryJul 30, 2020
The Go-Go's has pretty much everything you'd want in a rock documentary, presenting an oral history of the chart-topping all-female group with sex, drugs, music, money, and the intramural squabbling and wounded egos great success tends to unleash. Hard to believe it's been 40 years, but anyone who remembers the band should fall head over heels once again. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearJul 29, 2020
The doc’s goal: Don’t think of the Go-Go’s as a bit of Reagan-era nostalgia, the musical equivalent of a Rubik’s cube. Think of them as a first-tier, kick-ass rock group, period, full stop, the end. Mission accomplished. Read full review
80
UproxxMike RyanJul 29, 2020
The best thing about this documentary is that every singe member of The Go-Go’s is in “no fucks” mode. They are all at an age where they are going to be open and honest about what happened and not sugarcoat the details. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanJul 29, 2020
In the fresh bopping beauty of their punk romantic sound, they kicked open a door of perception. They said to a generation: We got the beat, and you can too. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJul 31, 2020
Entertaining and richly sourced documentary. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJul 29, 2020
Backed by a wealth of video footage, archival photographs and gig posters, Ellwood captures the determination with which the band thrust itself forward, neither glossing over nor digging too deep into the hint of ruthlessness with which early members — and later, original manager Ginger Canzoneri — were pushed aside as the band became big business. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRobert MorastJul 29, 2020
This film by Alison Ellwood feels thin. Anemic. Even shortsighted. Sure, the documentary frames the band’s story with that astounding fact of their first number one record, but beyond that underscored point, “The Go-Go’s” plays like paint by numbers for music documentaries. Read full review
More From This Movie

81 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL