My wife and my buddy's wife both really enjoyed it, and while both of them have listened to their fair share of PJ through the years because of us, I wouldn't call either of them fans (I had more than one, "Who is that?" to answer). So I'm not sure EG's on target RE: it being a bit slow for non die-hards.
I'm not sure it should be called Twenty. More like Ten, Carry the Ten. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it. But it's clear Crowe was focused more on the years where he was present, where he knew more, and probably had more unseen footage available. There's nothing wrong with that, but it certainly left me with some general impressions about the current state of the band.
It was a little odd to me that almost all of the current footage was individual band members on their own. There was almost no recent interaction. It certainly seems like Stone still harbors some resentment towards Ed for taking over what used to be his band (Or his and Jeff's, I guess, if you want to put it that way. But Ament didn't vocalize much RE: that). I don't know. It seems like they're still together as a tribute to whatever they want Pearl Jam to be or to be remembered as rather than because they still enjoy playing together. Not a single sentiment in that regard that I can recall. There was a lot of talk about how much everybody LOVED playing with Wood. They'd have done anything for him. And then Vedder just kind of appeared, and it seems like they were bound by success rather than any sort of strong affection towards, enjoyment from, or loyalty to each other.
I enjoyed it a lot, and I think EG was spot on with most of his comments. It just left me feeling like the current incarnation of the band may be a little fractured.
I was guessing as to how it would play for die-hards, I'm really glad to hear that non-fans dug it. I tried to imagine how I would like it if the movie was about Foreigner and I didn't think it would hold my interest because there were no real revelations of salacious info, nor a whole lot of drama between band members, etc.I agree with your take on the current state of the band, too. There was really just nothing there to chew on, so the viewer is kind of left to wonder why that is... which I suppose inevitably leads to a somewhat pessimistic outlook. I think the views on playing with Wood as opposed to Vedder are likely highly romanticized. It was a long time ago, they were all young and ready to take on the world, he's dead and as such fondly remembered, etc. The prevailing sentiment, in my opinion, was that they feel lucky to still be making music for a living. It's more of a world-wise perspective of guys in their 40s who are now looking back and saying : "this could have gone horribly wrong, as it has for so many others, but we weathered the storms and managed to spend our entire lives making music without being destitute." I felt like they probably still enjoy playing live and feel fortunate to still be doing it, rather than feeling like they still have this unbridled passion for playing with one another. I didn't really sense so much resentment from Jeff and Stone over "losing control" of the band to Eddie as it was resigned acceptance of encountering and absorbing an unstoppable, mercurial creative force that was destined to swallow up anyone around him.