The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From a Mythical Man

I do love Bill Murray. I think genius is overused but he is a comedic genius. I watched this movie for the same reason most people would and that is a love of Bill Murray and a fascination with his quirky real life persona. This documentary does a good job of showcasing Murray's real life antics as he infuses himself in to the lives of everyday people, much to their delight. It is not a great documentary from a film making standpoint and, probably, too long. I recommend it to pass time and for a laugh but this is no substitute for what Murray does best- star in good and unusual movies in unusual roles.

A pretty amaturish documentary about the man, the myth, the legend - Bill Murray. Some man collects stories and want's to have a chat with him. Mostly we get a few faces telling they're stories. Others seem like Bill-experts and they chat about him. An all right film about my favorite character within the world of film. He's an amazing, chilled out dude that inspire me and many others. Some great stories, some OK stories. OK presented and in total a pretty interesting film even if it never really shines. 7 out of 10 stories.

A really interesting documentary, worth watching.

Un film qui te tire un sourire même si c'est pas ce à quoi je m'attendais au départ.

In the dark, strange days after 9/11, when the skies over London were still eerily empty of the planes that would on a normal day noisily criss-cross their white plumes overhead, a story spread across the city. There were, it turned out, variations on it, but it went something like this. A Muslim man had unknowingly dropped his obviously full wallet on public transport somewhere in the city; a fellow passenger saw this, picked up the wallet and handed it to its owner. He was very grateful, and as he thanked the person in question, he would lean forward and whisper to him or her "Stay out of [names part of London] on [names a day/date]." It's a classic urban myth; it plays on fear and prejudice; it's always 'a friend' or a friend of a friend' to whom it happened; the actual people involved are always just one remove away. These myths spread like wildfire across cities - even before the internet and social media were in wide use - and become accepted truths. Of course, these days one can find few people who actually believed this myth; but back in the day when most of us heard it most of us believed it, at least for a few minutes. For some of us, such stories become a prism through which we view an issue; the more light-hearted ones become shared jokes which bind groups together. In many cases the truthfulness of these myths isn't what's most important; it's what they mean at a deeper level that matters, the way they shape us and define our views of people or things. Urban myths are in that respect a close relative of what we now call fake news. Bill Murray is an actor around whom a series of what appear to be urban myths have grown up, and this documentary is the story of a film-maker trying to get to the bottom of them, establish their truthfulness and meaning. It turns out that the myths around Bill Murray are mostly true - he really did turn up to a student party and do the washing up; he did join the engagement photo-shoot of a random couple; he did play kickball with some people in a park that one time; he did turn up at a bar and start serving drinks behind it. On they go. The documentary is intoxicatingly cheerful; it's the good-natured story of a global star, blessed with magical comic timing, who has appeared in some of our best-loved movies, doing nice things for ordinary people. What does it all mean, the film-maker wants to know? I remember Bono once being quoted as saying 'I see fame as a calling'. It's one of those Bono-isms that winds a lot of people up: I understand that, but I couldn't help thinking of those words when I was watching this film. It seems that Bill Murray sees fame in a similar way; if one has this ridiculous thing called celebrity, one might as well do something useful with it, the logic goes. Bono takes that in one direction; Bill Murray in another. The roots of this seem to be in his improvisational comedy background; as the film explains, in improv the artist has to say 'yes, and ... ' then move further down the road. Fear must drive you to new things in improv, not weigh one down the way it does so many of us. He has no entourage to bring with him, no PR people to spin. He's just himself, improvising outside the performance space. What's interesting is what this all means to the people Murray meets. One of his directors says 'he shows up not to take over, but to be present'. One person who testified to one myth's truthfulness first-hand said 'He made feel like a bigger person than I am ... I'm not part of his story, he's part of my story.' Another says 'By action, if not by word, he's teaching us how to live.' It's an invitation not to live on autopilot, but rather to live wherever the wind blows. For the follower of Jesus, this all sounds a little like Jesus speaking of how the Holy Spirit, the essence of God, guides us and works. It sounds a lot like an invitation to embrace the opportunity to see transcendence and holiness and opportunity in the ordinary stuff of the day to day, for ourselves and for those standing in queues with us, at the next table, in the car beside us. What if we Jesus followers saw those moments as chances to bring transcendence to others and ourselves in those ordinary moments; what if we did so in such a way so as to not draw attention to ourselves with a lecture or sermon or the like? But something more simple - quietly paying for someone else's coffee, for example. I don't know how all this works. Bill Murray is no Jesus - a quick read around online relates that many have found him hard to work with and that one ex-wife mentioned abuse and addiction as a cause for her seeking divorce (though these claims were later withdrawn). In these true myths, is Murray somehow seeking atonement for all that too? We can but guess. But it all seems to be the sort of gentle, grace-giving, enlightening thing Jesus to which Jesus might call us.

Life changing stuff.

This was wonderful! Bravo to the filmmaker and to Murray!

I enjoyed it for the stories about the legend, but ultimately the film was not especially well made.

I enjoyed this one. Definitely stay for the after credits scene.

Definitely worth watching