Starbucking
Heretic Films
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Follow the bizarre story of Winter, a man who has dedicated his life to visiting every Starbucks in the world. Discover the unlikely motivation behind his seemingly pointless and impossible mission. Learn how this near obsession has driven Winter to more than 6,000 Starbucks (and counting) since 1997.

Ride along with Winter on a journey that has led him to nearly every U.S. state and several foreign countries in search of new Starbucks. See hilarious encounters with the people he meets along the way. Watch as he tries to break his longstanding record of visiting 28 Starbucks in one day to find out if that much caffeine can drive a person completely insane.

STARBUCKING is truly the ultimate road movie. The story takes place on location everywhere, including the friendly neighborhood Starbucks down the street from your house. Sit back, have a cup of joe, and watch as one man defies society's norms in a never ending search for the lady in green.

Wherever there's a camera, a celebrity can be born. Whether it's reality TV, YouTube or an accidental incident caught on a cell phone, celebrity status can be born any time, any where. Sometimes it's fun – like the Star Wars kid dancing around or the seemingly endless supply of sleeping cats rolling off of TV's on America's Funniest Home Videos. But more often, they're annoying and you just want them to disappear. So goes a guy simply known as Winter who has gone on to reach faux celebrity status by trying to visit every Starbucks in the world.

Starbucking is a self-righteous look at Winter's strange quest, offering far to little given its feature-length status. Although there are some interesting insights offered by Winter, most of the film is a jumble of him making a fool of himself as he's so hyped on caffeine that he can't stop moving. He's like the cokehead version of Jarred the Subway guy.

Starbucking sends mixed messages about the faux celebrity. On the one hand you have Winter admitting he's offering nothing to the world other than an eccentric quest. But then a short while later he's wearing a shirt shilling the film's website. Director Bill Tangeman is taking a little of Michael Moore's lead by including himself in parts of the film. The only thing is that Tangeman isn't a part of the narrative of the movie. He's simply along for the ride.

The documentary might have worked if it had a little more focus. As it stands, it presents Winter as an eccentric with a thing for coffee. There's no story there, just a character. As a result, Starbucking is a film with an intriguing lead, a couple of brief moments of inspired insights and lots of driving around with no thematic destination.

Video: How's it look?
Starbucking is shown in a venti full screen format. The colors are nice given the digital master.

Audio: How's it sound?
The Dolby stereo sound mix is very good. Although there are many, many outdoor scenes, there's little distortion.

Extras: What additional goodies are included?

• Winter and director Bill Tangeman provide a commentary track, which is odd considering they're commentating throughout the film.
• Seven deleted scenes totaling more than ten minutes.
• Trailers for 24 Hours on Craigslist, Lurking in Suburbia, Kissing on the Mouth, Piece By Piece and Magdalena's Brain

Closing Thoughts
It might have worked as a 30-minute TV piece, but Starbucking is far too long for a feature given its limited focus. Although Winter's quest is quirky, a guy buying coffee and driving in a car doesn't make for a movie. The DVD is adequate, although the features are a little on the no-fat soy side.


Review brought to you by our friend Ryan @ Movie-Views.com