Paul Elliott’s review published on Letterboxd:
Incorporating traditional Irish music with a growling punk ethos, The Pogues prevailed as an extraordinary force in music during the nineteen-eighties. This documentary from the veteran punk documentarian and filmmaker Julien Temple shines a spotlight on the tortured frontman, Shane MacGowan. Through unseen archival footage, family photographs and colourful animation from celebrated illustrator Ralph Steadman, the film accompanies MacGowan as he trades quips with his contemporaries and friends as well as sharing more than a few pints and anecdotes.
In chronicling the ascent of The Pogues, the film naturally becomes jam-packed with some terrific music. He commences with MacGowan's childhood, incorporates the bands crowning accomplishment of Rum Sodomy & the Lash, their third studio album If I Should Fall from Grace with God including the timeless Fairytale of New York and revolves around his sixtieth birthday celebrations. It features MacGowan in conversation with Johnny Depp who he quite rightfully derides about his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Amusingly, Depp further embarrasses himself with a fake English accent that's as phoney as his declarations of innocence regarding Amber Heard.
Some of the best and most fascinating tales which punctuate the feature concern MacGowan's day-to-day childhood in a Tipperary farmhouse where he underwent a rough-and-ready boyhood becoming inaugurated to alcohol at the tender age of six years old. Temple's direction unsurprisingly positions his Irishness front and centre yet, fortunately, he neatly and promptly manages in staving off sinking into generalisations regarding the Irish people collectively. There are also additional conversations with controversial Irish republican politician Gerry Adams underscoring Shane MacGowan's complicated life story.