Screw the reviews. You know if you have to see this. And if you do…

There’s a starmaking machinery behind the popular song. Image is important. You’re never truly let inside.

Unless you are.

Those Rick Rubin interviews were fantastic, but Paul was playing a role, a Beatle. But who is this guy really?

I guess what impressed me most is when I heard Paul say he took the jitney in from the Hamptons to NYC, and then a bus uptown. That’s revelatory in a world where everybody wants to become so rich and famous that they can extricate themselves from the world of the hoi polloi.

But Paul McCartney is just another scouser from Liverpool. Albeit a very talented one. And rich too, but this film addresses the Allen Klein lawsuit/controversy… Never forget that Klein ended up owning all those early Rolling Stones albums. It wasn’t like today, they were making it up as they went along. The record companies were corporations, but the rest of the business was a free-for-all. With hustlers and shysters and… Paul had no idea where the millions went, for a while anyway.

Don’t confuse this film with the book, the latter was hagiography, this is shot from a distance. Morgan Neville has earned his rep, and he delivers here. McCartney is a micromanager who wants his hand in everything. But when you give up control is when you get greatness. And the first half of this film is truly great.

The second half? There’s nothing wrong with it, but the arc fizzles out. Wings tours America and then what?

Well, what happens is…family life.

The most poignant thing said in this film is how both Paul and Linda lost their mothers at a young age. And you can see here how Paul is needy. Or insecure. He needs Linda by his side constantly. Just like he needs Nancy today. It’s not so much that he needs a correction factor, someone to keep him in line, but he knows what’s going on outside, the fame and people’s reaction to it, isn’t really real.

Another fascinating thing said in this film is when Chrissie Hynde says the stars don’t really change. The penumbra does, but the people themselves… Joe Walsh nailed it, but people didn’t take it so seriously because of the humor in “Life’s Been Good.” But Joe’s still singing that song nearly fifty years later. The spotlight moves on. Even worse, the spotlight today is much narrower, much more focused, and the audience itself is made up of stars.

But not back then.

You may be mesmerized, positively gobsmacked by Swiftmania, but when you see Beatlemania in the beginning of this film… Whoa! I was there. And everybody else who was remembers. It was like nothing before and nothing since. The entire youth was fascinated by this group. Listened to the music, read everything they could, picked up instruments to play the songs and… The Beatles were good-looking and talented with great voices… You just don’t get that trifecta today.

That’s one thing that comes across right away, Paul is cheeky. Irreverent. And later in the film he says Liverpudlians hate the bosses. Which is kind of funny, because today everybody wants to be the boss. But the Beatles were not American, there was no dream, they were playing literally in a cavern. Such that when they did succeed, they maintained their values, which were a combination of curiosity and suspicion. They didn’t trust the system. Today Donald Trump accepts fake awards, back then John Lennon sent back his MBE.

So, the breakup is covered. But what is made clear here, in a way that it’s never been done previously, is that Paul was lost.

And he didn’t know where he wanted to go.

It wasn’t as simple as playing music, although that was an issue, but how exactly was he going to live?

You see images of the farm in Scotland… That was truly off the grid. He had to get away to find out who he was, to cogitate, he drank too much and then…

He made “McCartney.”

Now in truth not everything Paul has done since the Beatles is great, but that initial solo album is a masterpiece, if for no other reason than it was thrown-off, made in a vacuum, not worrying about the audience.

Today seemingly the only things people talk about are “Band on the Run” and the hits. But if young people really listened to “McCartney”…it’s human, and personal…if only today’s acts could replicate this magic.

And then there are the bands. Bottom line, McCartney was the leader. And Paul isn’t perfect, he can’t understand the musicians’ feelings, he’s got no idea where they’re at, how they’re being paid a meager salary. And when members quit just before the journey to Lagos, instead of being compassionate, he becomes indignant, saying if they want more money they should write the songs.

Yup, Paul is flawed. He doesn’t always do the right thing.

So, he puts Linda in the band, they always bring the family along, back in an era when no one did this. But Paul had to. That’s what he needs, that’s his bedrock, not lawyers and accountants, but his family. It roots him. He can count on them. And he’s certainly the center, but without them it’s not clear he can carry on.

Unlike the book, the film is not completely linear and not every moment is delineated, they don’t go through every album, however…

A highlight for me is when they’re playing “Big Barn Bed” live, before it comes out. I love that song, but…watching this movie you get the context, he’s talking about his barn, his life.

This happens all the time. The lyrics you thought were generic are actually specific, he’s talking about his life, mostly with Linda.

As for Linda… She can never be completely humanized, like Yoko she started off on the wrong foot.

And another thing you get from this film is these weren’t paragons of insight and education, Paul and Linda were making it up as they went along. Growing up.

And that’s bookends this film. Paul’s need to grow up. A lot of musicians never do. Paul is infatuated with music, he needs to make it, but it’s not enough to make and keep him happy. And what is life about anyway? I still don’t know. And I’m not sure Paul does either.

There are missteps. There’s the TV special with the singing and dancing that looks nearly tone-deaf…then again, one thing that comes clear in this movie is Paul did so much on a lark, without much aforethought. He was not a prisoner of his image. But without taking chances, you can never grow.

And you find out that Paul writes best when he’s away from his regular space. First in the toilet, then in Lagos… Inspiration is an enigma, but Paul has continued to push the envelope.

Now the truth is today Paul literally has the best band, and it’s been together for decades. But it’s clear, he’s the leader.

But you need backup musicians. Sure, Paul can make the records himself, but man it is lonely.

So, despite all the Beatle projects we’ve been exposed to for thirty-odd years… There’s still more to learn.

John was all about ripping himself open and testifying as to his hurts and beliefs. But Paul has played it closer to the vest. And you think you know these acts through their music, but in truth you don’t.

I learned more about Paul McCartney, got a better feel for the man in  “Man on the Run,” than in any previous production.

Where he goes from here, I’m not sure. But Paul has survived. He has not succumbed to the dangers and missteps that have sidelined and even killed so many other star musicians. Even around him, like Jimmy McCulloch.

That’s the challenge. Continuing to live. Too many players are like athletes, trading on the past, the good old days. But Paul is not nostalgic, he’s constantly marching forward.

At this point, Paul McCartney could truly be the most recognizable guy on the planet. They used to say it was Muhammad Ali, but the Greatest is gone now. How do you cope?

That’s what this film is all about, the question of how you carry on.

If you’re just flipping the channels, looking for something to watch, don’t. If you hate Paul McCartney and his music, don’t. But if you still consider him a member of murderers’ row, someone who can always come back and hit the long ball, “Man on the Run” is a MUST-SEE!