Nickelback is a band that I grew up listening to as a kid. I’m not a hard-core fan, but I like a lot of their songs. The big thing with the band is that in school and the generation that I am in, which is millennials, the fun thing to do was hate on the band. When I found out that they were coming out with a documentary that was only going to be in theaters for two nights, I decided I wanted to go see it to get to learn more about the band and see if Love To Hate: Nickelback is my thing or not.

This documentary, directed by Leigh Brooks, tells the history of the Canadian rock n roll band Nickelback. Starting with Chad and Mike Kroeger growing up in Hanna, Alberta Canada to the introduction of more band members and switches in members. This documentary also talks about the period of time where they were the band that people love to hate, especially with the introduction of social media all because of how popular and big they got. It culminates in them questioning what the future of the band is currently and where their going from here.

I really enjoyed this documentary. I got to learn more about their history and the back stories of all the main members. You got some dramatic moments in there and it was funny at multiple times during the movie. It was interesting to see how the members dealt with some of the big moments in their career

One aspect that I did enjoy about the movie is that you got perspective from a lot of different people, including all of the current and former members of the band, as well as family members and business relationships like executives at road runner records, and their manager. Getting to hear everybody talk about The different stages of the bands career was interesting to watch because you were able to get their thoughts instead of just a narrator. You also were able to get an interesting editing technique because you could have one of the members talk about one aspect in a certain location and then it would continue on the same conversation in a different location. It was also cool to see snippets of performances as well both from their perspective looking at the fans, but also from the fans perspective.

If I had any small negatives, it would be that there were a couple dramatic moments that I wish were expanded upon more, but if the members wanted to leave some details out, that is understandable. Sometimes musicians a celebrities don’t like to air all their dirty laundry in narrative feature films or documentaries for that matter.

I actually saw Nickelback live in concert around the year 2008 with the release of their album Dark Horse. All in all, Love To Hate: Nickelback was a unique experience. Getting to see a movie that chronicles this band was very enjoyable for me as a fan. This film is only in theaters for two days. I and am glad I was able to see catch it. It was a very entertaining experience.

4 1/2 stars

Zachary Shelton