This doc starts out strong but it soon goes downhill.

The basic problem is that it's a one trick pony.

A depressed guy who refuses to get over his stupid depression or can't for whatever reason.

So the reamaining 3/4 of the movie is filler. It's the same story retold over and over.

It gets a little bit more interesting when Asia is introduced, but she doesnt have a very big role. Nor do they really go indepth about why she left Tony and why she made him find out about it from a tabloid.

Overall, the movie is WAY too long. It could easily be cut in half and make a better viewing. Too bad. I was hoping for something much better.

As "Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" (2021 release; 115 min.) opens, Bourdain talks about how he wants/hopes to be remembered after he dies. We then hear one of the many talking heads: "A little bit of pre-emptive truth-telling: there is no happy ending here". And with that we are off on a whirlwind tour of the life and times of Anthony Bourdain, the erstwhile celebrity chef-turned NYT bestselling author-turned TV world travel host.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from Oscar-winning Morgan Neville ("20 Feet From Stardom", "Won't You Be My Neighbor"). Here he delves into what drove Bourdain to do what he did. For some (like myself),we associate Bourdain with his bestselling "Kitchen Confidential", but others may associate him more with his long running TV travel shows. I have never seen any of these TV shows. Morgen seemingly was given unfettered access to previously unseen footage, including home recordings (on smart phones). The big picture that eventually emerges is a complicated one, even a dark one. Bourdain asks a friend at some point: "You are successful. Yet are you happy?" Talk about a loaded question! The documentary gets better as it moves along, Yet at the same time, one must ask: what do you call a man who takes his own life and leaves behind a young daughter? I find it very troubling myself.

"Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" premiered at last month's Tribeca film festival to immediate critical acclaim. It opened in theaters this weekend. The early Saturday evening screening where I saw this at my local art0hous theatre here in Cincinnati was attended very nicely (a quick count of about 35-40 people). If you were/are a fan of Anthony Bourdain, or simply are in the mood for an insightful documentary, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Greetings again from the darkness. As the film begins, we understand there will be no happy ending. Anthony Bourdain committed suicide by hanging in 2018 at the age of 61. As it was reported, everyone was shocked. Oscar winning documentarian Morgan Neville (TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM, 2013) interviews those who knew him best, and by the end of the film, we are left wondering why these folks were shocked at how his demise.

Bourdain ... called Tony by those who knew him ... spent most of the last 20 years of his life with a camera focused on him, so director Neville allows Bourdain to tell much of his own story. "I got very lucky" is how he explains turning a dishwasher job into the position of Chef at Brasserie Les Halles on Park Avenue in New York, and then evolving into an author, talk show guest, and host of TV travel and culinary shows.

Perhaps you read Bourdain's first book "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly", or maybe you know him from one of his four TV shows where he traveled around the globe eating strange food and exploring unusual cultures. Then again, to some, he'll always be known as the guy who was filmed eating a live cobra heart. All of those bits are discussed here, but the real interesting segments occur as others talk about the man they knew/loved/worked with.

Bourdain's second wife Ottavio, his brother, his friends, his agent, and his production crew are all interviewed here and are surprisingly forthcoming in their recollections and insight into Tony. We even see clips of Bourdain with his daughter, though she is not interviewed. The descriptions add up to a complicated guy. A natural storyteller who was a control freak and hard on those he worked with. Yet he was also charming, immensely intelligent and articulate, and eager to make satisfying TV. He also comes across a bit lost as a person most of the time, never more than when he's filmed asking Iggy Pop, "What thrills you?" There is even a segment with Tony in a session with his therapist.

The film, and Bourdain himself, don't shy away from his addictive nature. He admits to a drug problem when he was younger, and for the rest of his life he jumped from one non-drug related addiction to another. His personal life seemed to take a turn when he fell for Italian actress Asia Argento and he became an advocate for the #MeToo movement. His tragic end is discussed, and maybe those closest to him were simply too close to see what seems obvious to us now. Director Neville uses no shortage of archival footage and photos, but it's the personal interviews that strike the emotional chord here. Two films, APOCALYPSE NOW and VIOLENT CITY apparently had a dramatic impact on Bourdain, and though the end is tragic, his legacy as an adventurous storyteller lives on.

In theaters on July 16, 2021.