Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?

2006 documentary

Rating: 11/20 (Jen: 11/20)

Plot: A 73-year-old truck drivin' moron buys a giant "ugly" painting at a thrift store to give to a friend. It wasn't clear, but I believe it was some sort of joke. She pays five bucks. While trying to sell said painting at a yard sale, a high school art teacher suggests that it could be a Jackson Pollock painting. Teri Horton and her son desperately look for somebody in the art world to help prove it's a Pollock while art historians and critics get all smarmy.

Apparently, this is an attempt by the filmmakers to prove that everybody involved with this is stupid. Well, a CSI-type art investigator seemed pretty bright. I liked him so much that I could pinch him! The art experts, especially Teri Horton, her broke son, their idiot drinkin' buddies, and the other art experts were all morons though. This documentary felt more like one of those Dateline shows. There was oppressive narration, sketchy information, and sort of a pointless meandering narrative that ends up unresolved. Too much seemed staged, and it was clear that those art experts had only pulled their heads out their own asses long enough to sound important. My very favorite staged moment was when one of the drinkin' buddies sang a country song, "The Ballad of Teri Horton and Jackson Pollock," that had to be 25 minutes long. There was also this attempt to cast a sentimental light on Teri Horton that I am far too cold to appreciate. Too much of her colorful character became grating, but this was interesting enough as a glimpse into the assholery of the art world.

Not to give anything away, but decisions made by this woman really make me want this not to be a Pollock. In fact, I really hope it was one of the paintings done in the Pollock biopic with Ed Harris from a few years ago.

Jen and I watching Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?: