Director/Cinematographer Marcie Hume (Hoarders, Customer Wars) and producer Jim Cummings (The Beta Test, The Wolf of Snow Hollow) bring you Corey Feldman vs. the World, a documentary following actor and musician Corey Feldman through a full year of his life. According to legend, this doc began with a very cooperative Corey Feldman. But at some point, Corey rescinded his involvement with the doc due to the filmmakers using footage that he claims was obtained through dishonest means, without his authorization. He further claims that the film was edited in a way to purposely mischaracterize words and situations. So I guess we could call this an authorized – and then unauthorized – biography of Corey.
In 2016, Hume began filming as Corey was putting together his “Corey Feldman and The Angels” band, featuring himself on vocals with an all-female backing band clad in full angel outfits. Corey created this band to tour in support of his new album, “Angelic 2 The Core.” Hume’s camera follows Corey as he assembles the band, going through multiple lineup changes, featuring arguments and dilemmas of the type that you would fully expect to have with musicians who aren’t used to touring and the pitfalls that come with it. I mean, seriously, who wants to be stuck in a bus for weeks at a time with no idea when their next shower opportunity will be?
“…a documentary following actor and musician Corey Feldman through a full year of his life.”
As a musician myself, I can identify with a lot of what happens in this doc. Finding and working with not just musicians, but also people who you get along with and can play their instruments well, can all lead to disaster with very little outside antagonism. To the chagrin of many, I actually empathize with a lot of what we see here that’s presented in a fashion that could make Corey look bad. As an outside example, a friend of mine has a very famous musician for a brother. He once said, “I see these people saying that my brother’s an a*****e, but, after meeting the people that say that, I can understand why he would be an a*****e to them.” There are definitely multiple people in the film who could fall into that category.
Hume does cover a lot in the film’s runtime of just over 90 minutes, including The Angels, the tour, Corey’s wedding, the abuse that happened to him and Corey Haim, the film he made to reveal the abuse, and a lot more interpersonal relationship drama between almost everybody in the film. We get to find out at least just a bit of what it’s like to be former child star Corey Feldman as an actor and a musician.
One thing that does seem a bit unfair is to include interviews with people bashing Corey without also giving him the spotlight to respond to the claims they make. But that’s not an uncommon thing to happen in documentaries, so as they say, “It is what it is.”
I wasn’t sure how to end this review until I stumbled across a reddit AMA with Marcie Hume answering questions about the film. Marcie answers this question in the most beautiful way possible, leaving us all with a great feeling about the future:
Fan: “Did Cory win? Or did the world?”
Hume: “The world can’t beat someone who won’t quit.”
"…The world can't beat someone who won't quit."
