Old people behaving badly.

Young at Heart is a documentary following the story of the Young at Heart chorus, a group of oldies who perform punk, alternative, and rock and roll in front of large crowds all over the world. This doc shows us their preparation as they head towards another tour, one that will begin in America and head over into Europe.

There’s nothing quite like seeing 80+ performing the Ramones ‘I want to be sedated’ or the Bee Gees ‘Staying Alive’. The chorus is large, so the documentary can only focus on a few key people. Of course, I found myself involved in the movie, trying to guess who would live, and who would die. And it wasn’t even a slasher flick (do I go to hell for saying that?).

Of course, you have all the personality traits represented: the zest for life guy, the irrepressible 92 year old woman who is too old to care about dropping an s-bomb, the funny guy, the pragmatist.

Now, just because they’re old, and doing punk covers, doesn’t mean that they all act like hipsters. They’re still old, and confounded by things like technology. The scene where Bob, the choirmaster, is giving them CDs to listen to at home…and how they’re explaining to use the CD player (and the choir just ain’t getting it) is hilarious.

Still, many sad moments — as the entire chorus has pretty much come to grips with their mortality, and conversation often turns to this topic. Some touching moments, and some uplifting moments.

Overall, a pretty good documentary, though I felt it ran a little long at 2 hours. I would’ve preferred about 90 minutes.