Who's in It: Meat Loaf, Dennis Quaid
The Basics: After about 35 years as a performer, everybody's favorite plus-size anthem bellower finally allows a documentary crew to follow him around on tour. I'm not a Meat Loaf fan at all, but I enjoy seeing a crazy perfectionist as old as my mother still being a successful rock star, selling $40 T-shirts and singing songs about teen sex in cars. Not as nutty as the Metallica documentary, but still really entertaining.
What's the Deal? You will enjoy, as I did, the following behind-the-scenes activities: Meat Loaf slogging through his workout on a stationary bike; Meat Loaf being a hypochondriac; Meat Loaf fainting after every show; Meat Loaf talking about how he's old and how the show sucks now; Meat Loaf packing his own bags and trudging around his hotel room with a Ziploc bag full of Wheat Thins; Meat Loaf's band mocking him for the Wheat Thins.
Best Meat Loaf Quotes:
"Well, the film is about you don't know what it's about. That's what it's about."
and
"I'm total improv continuously. I work off the seat of my pants. I work off the top of my head, but I don't think."
How Many Times Meat Loaf Has Performed "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," Approximately: 8,900. He actually refuses not to do it.
Totally Controversial "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" Controversy: The tour is plagued by critics calling the staging of the song "pervy," simply because Mr. Loaf chooses to perform it with a foxy young backup singer half his age. In 1978, this was not the case, but now when he stalks around his female stage prey with that bug-eyed intensity while the baseball announcer goes on and on, it might look a little odd to some people who hate 10-minute May-December theater-rock couplings. These are just people who dislike fun. Let the Meat have his PYT!