Conan O'Brien Can't Stop [Blu-ray]

Let's be clear on this. There's a reason this film is called "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop", rather than "Conan O'Brien Doesn't Want To Stop" or "Conan O'Brien Would Really Prefer Not To Stop, If It's Alright With You". Not only does the chosen title roll off the tongue rather better, but it's also absolutely, awe-inspiringly true.

This documentary received rave reviews when it debuted at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and it's easy to see why. "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" is a fantastic, engaging film about an extremely driven man at a crossroads in his professional life.

Apart from a couple of questions posed to Conan throughout the film, there is no audio commentary/voice-over from Rodman Flender. The footage speaks for itself, and the camera-work is intimate without feeling invasive. The film includes some footage of the actual tour performances, but the vast majority of the documentary is focused behind-the-scenes, and takes us on a complete journey of the tour: from the first tweet announcing the release of tickets to the final show in Atlanta. Along the way, we see Conan perform at every opportunity, even on his days off. We see a man unable to resist meeting and entertaining his fans even when he seems at times to barely have the energy to stand up. We see his interactions with his staff and crew, including sidekick Andy Richter (their genuine friendship over and above their comedic rapport is abundantly clear). The film also includes some heart-warming moments with Conan's family.

All in all, for 89 minutes, this film showcases the real life of a talented, intense performer and man, including the ups and downs and the hilarity and the tired crankiness. A very entertaining, honest and eye-opening film.

I loved this documentary and watching it made me respect Conan O'Brien even more than I already did. When the whole situation with NBC and Jay Leno went down, I was appalled at the unbridled greed, selfishess and utter lack of loyalty on the part of both parties. On the flip side however, I was extremely impressed with the way Conan O'Brien handled the situation. Rather than just take the money and change his time slot to appease NBC and Leno's self-serving whims, he chose to stand by his principles and walk away from the situation entirely. He did what he believed to be the RIGHT thing rather than the easy thing. On the contrary in fact...he walked away from a show he loved after being simultaneously knifed in the back and sucker-punched by the very company and people that made him a promise 5 years earlier and then just changed their minds to accomodate their own ego=oriented, money-drieven agendas. I don't see how anyone can have anything but respect for a person so willing to stand by their convictions even if it causes them great pain to do so. The documentary shows Conan exactly as he was at the time it was filmed - brutally honest, hilarious, self deprecating, sometimes bitingly sarcastic, sometimes cranky and clearly still reeling from the loss of his dream job, and all the while he pushes forward in an effort to recover, grow, try something new and most importantly to persevere even when it's really hard and dreams have been dashed by betrayal. Conan is an absolute inspiration. Anyone who likes to see good guys triumph wil be rooting for him all the way!

I expected things to be a bit censored or sugar-coated, but this was an excellent behind-the-scenes look at Conan and his staff, during the time after just leaving the Tonight Show and during his cross country live show tour. Really well done.