Hugh Dillon, Callum Keith Rennie, Bernie Coulson

Hard Core Logo is often compared to This Is Spinal Tap--and for marketing purposes, that makes sense: both are pretend documentaries about rock bands (a self-important heavy metal crew i...( read more  read more... )n Spinal Tap, a self-destructing punk mob in Hard Core Logo). But though Hard Core Logo can be cuttingly funny, it's not really a comedy; it's a piercing examination of friendship and betrayal, success and self-hatred, and everything that fueled punk rock. Lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon) uses false pretenses to convince guitarist Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie) to reform Hard Core Logo for a reunion tour across Canada, followed by a film crew (featuring director Bruce McDonald, whose other films include Roadkill and Highway 61, as himself). Tallent agrees, but only because he expects to be joining a much more successful rock group very shortly and sees this as a favor to Dick. As they travel from town to town, their relationship unravels, as does the psyche of bass player John Oxenberger (John Pyper-Ferguson). The performances are astonishingly genuine; even the oafish drummer Pipefitter (Bernie Coulson) becomes three-dimensional. By the end, you'll believe in them so much as people that the band's disintegration is truly wrenching. A remarkable film, both comic and sad. --Bret Fetzer

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88% liked it

6,096 ratings

Critics

64% liked it

11 critics

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Bruce McDonald

Release Date: December 31, 2000

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DVD Release Date: June 12, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (338)


  • March 4, 2009
    It's big, loud and dirty, and like Hero, it's one of those foreign films Quentin Tarantino liked enough to distribute himself. Hard Core Logo tells the story in "mockumentary" fashion, but it's by no means a comedy like its forebear This is Spinal Tap. Bruce McDonald's film is a ...( read more)true piece of Canadiana in one sense, as anyone who's driven from Vancouver to Winnipeg can attest (let alone back, as the band does), and in another sense, it's an experience that is globally understood: the punk rock world is what it is because there are so many people like Joe Dick involved. As Billy Talent points out in one of the film's best moments, though, you can only stay angry so long. The film is captivating right up to its very last second, with an ending that will shock you. Can't really say anymore, just add it to your list, it's essential viewing (with a great punk soundtrack).
  • June 1, 2008
    Hard Core Logo is the darker, more moody canadian half brother of Spinal Tap and God dammit it's just as great although pretty f*cking scary at times. Brilliant direction and great acting from the entire cast makes Hard Core Logo a hilarious yet ultimately tragic tale.
  • June 14, 2009
    The advertising for Hard Core Logo bills it as ?edgier and darker than Spinal Tap,? and while I wouldn?t call this overly edgy it was wise of the film to own up to its obvious debt to Rob Reiner?s This is Spinal Tap. Comparison?s to that film are inevitable given that both proje...( read more)cts are mockumentaries about dysfunctional rock bands and Spinal Tap is blatantly referenced in at least two different places in the film, this goes a long way in allowing the film to get that comparison out of the way and move on. Unlike the ill-fated band in Spinal Tap, the hardcore punk band at the center of this film isn?t particularly unsuccessful, their music is pretty decent by punk standards and they were reportedly pretty popular in their day. The difference is that these guys aren?t lovable losers like Spinal Tap is, they?re a bunch of jerks who pretty much have their inevitable failure coming to them, that?s the film?s fatal flaw; these people become really tiresome as the film goes on.

    I didn?t find the movie to be very funny at all, I?m not sure it was even trying to be. This wasn?t a problem at first but it began to be pretty clear that this material didn?t really have the weight or interest to really hold its own as any sort of drama, and once my interest in the characters went downhill the movie didn?t really have a lot to fall back on.

    Visually, I thought this was pretty decent. The filmmakers never go out of their way to over-emphasize the faux-documentary look. They don?t gratuitously shake the camera and they don?t use crappy film stock, consequently it looks a lot more like a real doc than many similar projects. The acting is also pretty good, this is certainly how I?d expect a dysfunctional punk band to look and sound.

    My review sound?s a little more negative than my real outlook, really the movie works pretty well for at least half of its 90 minute running time and I like the last couple scenes a lot as well (great last shot). There are some amusing scenes in here, but I think the whole thing might have been better suited for a short subject than a feature.
  • February 13, 2008
    Not as big a fan of this one as most people seem to be. In fact, I didn't really care at all about what I was watching and if it wasn't for the shock ending it wouldn't be very memorable at all.
  • October 7, 2009
    Not bad but not that great its worth one watch if you have nothing better to do.
  • September 17, 2009
    Loved this back in film school. I guess my movie sensibilities have changed since then.
  • June 11, 2009
    Can someone out there please tell me how to remove this one? I didn't even add it to my list, and it's definitely not my style, so I have no idea how it got on here!
  • May 25, 2009
    An amusing yet caustic mockumentary about the fictional band Hard Core Logo.
  • April 12, 2009
    I really enjoyed this and being from Canada and being a fan of punk music, I liked it from start to finish. Its a great mocumentary about a Canadian punk rock band called Hard Core Logo thats somewhat like This is Spinal Tap, but with more realism, more dramatic, more tragic, but...( read more) some times just as redicous. Not to mention the shocking ending thats impossible to guess. Seriously, it throws you off guard! Tarantino also liked this so much that he decided to buy the right and distribute the film himself. He evn thought about casting Hugh Dillon for a role in Kill Bill at one point. This is defently a good Canadian film thats considered on of Canada's best films. It contains a great soundtrack, great dialogue, interesting characters and events, and much more. This mocumentary rocks.
  • April 1, 2009
    Moyen. Je ne comprends pas trop la motivation de faire un faux documentaire qui a de l'air d'un vrai, sur une histoire qui est plutôt banale.

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Hard Core Logo Trivia


  • In what 1996 movie did chameleon Canadian actor Callum Keith Rennie play a guitarist with the name Billy Tallent?  Answer »
  • in the bruce mcdonald rock n roll mockumentry "hard core logo" who played the singer and is also in real life a singer of his own band?  Answer »
  • In the film "Hard Core Logo" what were Joe Dick's last words?  Answer »

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