Had a chance to sit down and watch the documentary, Brittown, over the weekend and it was interesting.
The movie revolves around “Meatball,” the owner of the Hell on Wheels motorcycle shop in Anaheim, California, a place devoted to rebuilding and repairing all sorts of old British iron and he seems to be pretty good at it. As you watch the movie, Meatball and friends, work on bikes for a while, go riding for a while and then change into appropriate attire for their evening gig playing in a band called Smiling Face Down. In between, they do a little vintage racing.
That pretty much sums up the whole movie, it’s a “slice of life” documentary about Meatball and his family and friends, which, though it may be very interesting to them, seems like it could use a theme or focus to tie it all together for the rest of us. There is a Triumph buildup going on with bits and pieces interspersed throughout the movie, but the movie is not about that, or the band, or the racing or any other one thing, it’s just hanging out with Meatball.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with what he does and it probably resembles, in some ways, what many guys into vintage bikes do, but as with most of us, there isn’t necessarily a movie in it, … but, life is a lot like that. Not many of us have a thrilling documentary waiting to be made about our lives, life rarely resembles blockbuster action movies or the evening news, it’s usually a lot more of one thing after another, day after day and in the course of doing those things, if we have a goal or two of our own, we sometimes have really great days, some exciting days, too, but those are not the norm. I think the young and easily bored crowd will not like this movie but the slightly older “vintage” crowd may appreciate that this movie is simply just life, with a British bike flavor, perhaps, but just life. No more, no less. I would give it 3 stars on a scale of 5.
Link: Brittown
Related: Brittown Movie Premiere
Clive Makinson-Sanders says
Well.. im definitely NOT going to see that movie and i MIGHT go shoot myself.
What a depressing review.
kneeslider says
Clive I think you’re reading a little deeper than you need to, I just wanted to follow up with a review since I have mentioned it more than once on The Kneeslider and some of you may have been wondering what it was about. I have to admit, it wasn’t exactly what I expected and it is a lot more accurate picture of a real bike shop than anything you see on the average Discovery chopper show and that’s a good thing, but if you were expecting a heavy emphasis on British bikes, you might come away disappointed.
Clive Makinson-Sanders says
I keed,I keed.
Steve Bryant says
I thought Brittown really stayed true to the title, which is an emphasis on British bikes and culture. I found myself really enjoying the movie. Sure, this movie may not be representative of most people’s daily lives (I mean, how often do you get to crown “Miss Hell on Wheels”?) and some may even suggest that there isn’t a core theme but…that’s life. Real life is bits and pieces of our daily activities that eventually come together to form our experiences…in this case, the experience of Meatball in his shop, playing with his band and ridin’ with his buddies. I think there is a universal appeal to this movie: it’s fun and it has a lot to offer.
Sean says
So, it’s about British bikes, in America? No history, no reviews of classic bikes, no interviews with the people who made the original cafe racers? Seems a little like it chose the wrong title, not that it didn’t remain true to the title.