‘Beastie Boys Story' Isn't A Sure Shot, But It'll Do

Little was predictable about the Beastie Boys in their three-plus decades of making music. They were spontaneous, always evolving, off-the-cuff pranksters who turned pro without ever losing the punchline.

Even seeing ahead to the end of a rhyme was impossible. Their lyrics took circuitous, hysterical routes. “I’ll stir fry you in my wok/Your knees’ll start shakin’ and your fingers pop/Like a pinch on the neck of Mr. Spock.”

So why is “Beastie Boys Story,” a documentary of Mike Diamond and Adam Horowitz’s staged show, so predictable? “Beastie Boys Story,” which arrives Friday on Apple TV-Plus, is billed as a “live documentary experience.” And with Spike Jonze, who so memorably directed the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” music video presiding over both the theater show and the film, one could reasonably expect — whatever “live documentary” means — something alive. Maybe even something “off the hook like Latrell Sprewell” or popping “like a pinch on the neck of Mr. Spock.”

And yet, “Beastie Boys Story,” while often rollicking and moving, frequently has the stale air of a Ted Talk, as Horowitz and Diamond calmly walk the stage, read teleprompters from stools, pause for frequent video inserts and chronologically tell the story of their unlikely rise from downtown New York to hip-hop elite.