Movie Blog: Conan O'Brien Can't Stop Soon Enough
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is an interesting document, but it's a lackluster documentary.
Nearly all of the film's merit comes from its frame of reference. It was filmed over a period of six months during which Conan had been banned from TV, radio and the Internet following the fiasco with NBC's The Tonight Show. Angry, anxious and in an abyss of free time, Conan and his posse of writers, assistants and fellow comedians get the idea to stage a music-comedy tour for the duration of the Coco-lockout. And it's this tour – its planning, preparation, production and presentation – that the film follows.
At its best, the film provides a portrait of Conan, the improvisational entertainer. If it had more of a story, one could say it is about a man who, after a 22-year entertainment career, suddenly finds himself without an audience. Thus he journeys restlessly to find his audience and return to his metaphorical home.
At this point you might be thinking that a movie about a comedian on a comedy tour must be funny. Beware: In the case of Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, that's unfortunately not so.
I mean: Sure, there are laughs. However, they aren't at all consistent. I only remember laughing a bit toward the first quarter of the film, but after that I hardly laughed or giggled or even exhaled heavily with a hint of good humor at all. In general, the movie is as funny as a talk show that features no guests and lasts an hour and a half.
Almost tragically, the lack of laughs comes from what the movie is confined to film, which is Conan – Conan on stage, working with his staff, meeting fans, hanging out with celebrities, Conan happy, Conan angry, Conan bored…. Although successful in creating a portrait of the entertainer, these moments, stretched out to feature length, make for dull cinema.
The film also never captures a moment of anything ecstatically human, anything unequivocally Conan. And that is exactly with this film needs, exactly what all films like this have to have if they are worth watching. They need Herzog talking of the Amazon jungle's atmosphere of "collective and overwhelming murder" (Les Blank's Burden of Dreams); they need Robert McNamara talking of fire-bombing Tokyo (Errol Morris' Fog of War). They need the oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-that-was-captured-on-film moments. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop lacks one.
To be fair, if you are a Coco-fanatic, you'll likely gobble the movie right up. Despite not being terribly funny and lacking in golden moments, you still get to hang out with Conan and see him when he's not working. Conan's drive to entertain, his restless energy and silly debonair combine into something charming, entertaining and nearly adorable.
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is an endearing portrait of the entertainer, but there is no reason a non-Conan fan should see it.
