Customer Reviews

Starbucking

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the kind of movie that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Winter, the star - if you can call him that, is an interesting character but not nearly interesting enough for 70+ minutes of footage. Rather, it is the blend of Road Trip type humor, the thoughts from the characters encountered on the journey, coupled with the fact that this is not a concocted documentary which culminate to turn an interesting subject into an uplifting, funny and insightful movie. It was great in the film festivals and I can't wait to watch the final take along with the bonus features.

I'd read about Winter in the Washington Post a couple years back...couldn't quite understand why he was on this quest. I found it interesting, how someone could have such a singular focus and follow through with such enthusiasm. So, I had to watch the film, hoping to understand why he worked so hard on his 'project'.

Winter himself thinks this project has no deeper meaning. Of course, he appears to be obsessive compulsive and to say the least, strange. That's about the only insight we get in this film. It offers no deeper meaning, doesn't put his quest into context, doesn't even make a judgement that visiting all the world's Starbucks is even possible. (I'd like to see a chart showing how quickly the chain is growing with respect to the rate in which Winter can visit the stores....this is seemingly a never-ending battle.)

About all we get is the camera following Winter, Winter acting goofy due to his over-caffeination, and some commentary by Winter on the progress of his quest. He does offer some philosophy in the form of a lecture...not sure where this lecture was given, nor why.

I can't say this was a particularly good documentary, but I couldn't stop watching it. I feel like watching this was pointless, just like Winter's pursuit.

It is hard to describe this piece of work. Bizarre comes to mind but that's not really correct. I reached a point where I wanted to stop watching but I had to finish it. It is an experience in itself. What Winter does is some kind of performance art. There is precision and discipline and commitment and unbelievable effort and even deprivation involved in what he does. As I watched I had the strongest urge to go to my own Starbucks. Made me want to take a road trip,too. Freedom calls. And all of that rests on a barely submerged question of sanity. But is it his or mine? I'm glad I watched it and I may have to watch it again.

"Starbucking" is a must see film! It's a brilliantly produced documentary that captures the essence of one man's psychological obsession to visit every single Starbucks coffee house. Winter's perserverance is highly entertaining, and I will admit that I became entranced with his journey. This is a film that could definitely be watched a hundred times and still make you laugh...Bravo to all of those involved in the making of this film!
Best regards,
Stefanie Kammerman

Starbucks should give this dude a $1,000 card to spend at their stores for all the free publicity he has given them. As other reviwers have sad, it is a bizare and unique journey to attain the obviously unreachable goal of visiting every Starbucks. Worth a watch.

I saw this flick at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival. It is a winner! A very unusual and engaging documentary. Check it out!

Well, I was toward the end of watching Starbucking, staring at my DVD player's run-time clock count off the seconds and minutes until this awfully misguided piece of filth documentary is over, when "Winter" started his soapbox rant about the basic needs of society being fulfilled and human beings only needing to work 10 hours a week.
Before this point, I was thinking that this psychotic moron was a harmless, shiftless layabout that will visit every Starbucks that his limited income would allow him to do. But when he stood in front of that projector screen with his notes in hand, talking about third-world countries and how they need to find something else to do besides survival, I said to myself, "Tom, you need to warn people not to watch this film."
It surprises me that men in white coats with butterfly nets haven't caught this guy yet. He needs to be in a mental hospital. The fact that people are supporting him at all is a wonder to me. If he wasn't visiting Starbucks, he would probably be making lampshades out of human flesh. Taking a look at his website, it is clear that the mental illness is much deeper than his blind obsession with Starbucks coffee. He writes about "people who should die," how religion is bunk and holds back society, and other paranoid, delusional and ignorant thoughts that pop in his over-caffeinated head.
In summation, do not see this movie. Even if you are a die-hard Starbucks fan looking for someone else who is more hardcore at loving Starbucks, this film does not have what you are looking for. This man is deranged and a threat to society if he were ever given anything of value.
Managers, bosses and executives, do not hire him. I wouldn't even trust him with a McJob. If I saw him at the street or at my Starbucks, I wouldn't want his autograph, I'd call the police.

the film was good but i expected to see this guy visit some starbucks in foreign countries to be on the film but were not , watching this clown OD on caffeine made me wanna puke ..
but thats my opinion do i like it ? yeah i liked it .would like to see that film of that other guy Doing the Dennys road trip thing , but if he goes to Dennys on rte 273 in newark Delaware he will see louzy service but that needs to be filmed it is entertaining

This was one strange documentary (if one can call it "documentation"--after all, what is being 'documented'). This documentary seemed as though it was placed together by an unskilled editor, but even worse is the torture of sitting through the entire DVD. While watching this DVD, I thought it could have been condensed into a five-minute YouTube video explaining this strange pursuit of visiting every Starbucks in the world. After a few minutes, I started to get bored, wondering what the fascination was in visiting a store which is truly exactly like every other store. I can understand, for instance, wanting to visit each Disneyland on earth because each theme park is, to some extent, different. However, visiting every Starbucks in the country (and the world?) What a waste of time.

I know some people who worked at Sbux where this fool showed up with his camera. I can assure you they were snickering in derision at the sheer moronicism that was this man's pursuit - to visit every Sbux. Can you see this idiot brainstorming the idea in its genesis? "Yeah, so like we'll visit, and make a scene of ourselves, you know, develop a buzz about ourselves filming ourselves inside a coffeehouse, 'cos you know, Starbucks is cool, and we will be too by association". Question: if this imbecile decided to visit every location of whatever chain store besides Sbux, would you care? Of course not. I'm sure he submitted this junk to every film festival he could, and I'm sure most of them laughed at his effort mockingly. I'd almost have only the tiniest sliver of respect if it were found out he was a corporate stooge, making this "documentary" about his journey, but it isn't. It's a pathetic individual with a sad aim. His lamentable attempt at drawing attention to himself using Sbux as his catalyst is an abject failure and a joke of a concept which never should have gotten off the ground.