Britney Vs Spears
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''Britney vs Spears'' is an 2021 American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by
Erin Lee Carr Erin Lee Carr (born April 15, 1988) is an American documentary filmmaker. She is also an author for publications including ''VICE'' and her memoir called ''All That You Leave Behind: A Memoir'', a story about love, addiction, and the relationshi ...
, that follows American singer-songwriter
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...
and her life over several years of her career and her conservatorship. It was released on September 28, 2021, on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
.


Synopsis

The film follows
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...
' life over several years and her conservatorship.


Production

Erin Lee Carr Erin Lee Carr (born April 15, 1988) is an American documentary filmmaker. She is also an author for publications including ''VICE'' and her memoir called ''All That You Leave Behind: A Memoir'', a story about love, addiction, and the relationshi ...
spent two years researching and investigating the Spears' conservatorship dispute. Carr had attempted to reach out to
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...
through her representatives, but did not receive a response, instead writing her a letter about the film. The film initially was supposed to revolve around the conservatorship and the media's treatment of her, but following the release of ''
Framing Britney Spears ''The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears'' is a 2021 American documentary film directed by Samantha Stark, reported and produced by Liz Day, and produced by Liz Hodes, Mary Robertson, Jason Stallman, Sam Dolnick, Ken Druckerman an ...
'', it changed the structure of the film. In February 2021, it was announced Lee Carr would direct an untitled film about Spears, with
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
set to distribute.


Reception

On ''
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
'' it has a 60% approval rating based on reviews from 15 critics, with an average rating of 4.20/10. On ''
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
'', the film holds a rating of 41 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Kristen Lopez for ''
IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' gave the film a B− writing, "Erin Lee Carr’s ''Britney vs Spears'' feels like a movie not searching for scandal but a genuine desire to help, to say something to Spears, to remind us why we love her and how we failed her. It reminds us how a government system has failed her consistently for 13 years. It reminds us of how her family has failed her. Judy Berman of ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' gave the film a positive review, writing: "The most thoughtful, stylishly composed of the three docs, it's framed by Carr and Eliscu’s collaborative quest to break the silence surrounding the conservatorship." Conversely, Michael Cragg for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave the film one star out of five, writing: "Certainly not in the pop star’s best interests, this disturbing film gives redemption stories to controversial figures from Britney’s past. Nothing about this feels right." Daniel D'Addario for '' Variety'' wrote: "This shapeless doc feels overlong at just over 90 minutes, because it's unclear what, exactly, Carr and collaborator
Jenny Eliscu Jenny Eliscu is a radio host for Sirius XM and a contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. She also had a recurring presence on the TV program ''I'm from Rolling Stone'' and has been on other music programs, including ''Behind the Music' ...
want to say about Spears." Jen Chaney of ''
Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' wrote: "a Netflix work that was originally intended to celebrate Britney unfortunately comes across as a bandwagon jump", referring to the documentary ''
Framing Britney Spears ''The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears'' is a 2021 American documentary film directed by Samantha Stark, reported and produced by Liz Day, and produced by Liz Hodes, Mary Robertson, Jason Stallman, Sam Dolnick, Ken Druckerman an ...
'' that had premiered earlier that year. ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' and ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' both described the film as "exploitive".


References


External links

* * * {{Erin Lee Carr Britney Spears 2021 films 2021 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about singers Netflix original documentary films Films directed by Erin Lee Carr Documentary films about women in music 2020s English-language films 2020s American films