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I like Rufus Wainwright and I think he does a fine job on other songs (Cohen himself noted in the interview that Rufus does a very nice version of "Chelsea Hotel No. 2"), but I gotta say that his rendition of "Everybody Knows" is never going to be anywhere on my list of favorite Cohen covers. Yikes. I know "campy" and "Rufus Wainwright" can be pretty much interchangeable, but I can't say that I particularly liked it when applied to this song. In contrast, Antony's "If It Be Your Will" is absolutely outstanding. Can't wait for the soundtrack to be released.

Bono wins the award for "gushiest drooling fanboy", definitely. Luckily they didn't have him perform "Hallelujah", since his version is pretty horrible.

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I really wanted to like this movie. I really did. I've yet to meet a Leonard Cohen song I didn't enjoy, and he's a thoughtful, intelligent guy and thus a good subject for the interview/documentary format.

Problem is, I couldn't bear most of the covers they had in the first half of the movie. Rufus Wainwright's "Everybody Knows" was actually one of the few I enjoyed - sure it was campy, but even campy can't ruin that particular song. His sister, on the other hand, had me wanting to grab her by the unbrushed hair, yell "stand up straight, whycantcha?!" and shake her until she stopped making faces into the mike and massively over-emoting. And dear lord, when did Nick Cave turn into The Pub Singer? I was also struck by the irony of following LC's explanation of having never been comfortable in jeans with a version of "If It Be Your Will" by apparent Leader Of The Great Unwashed, Antony.

Sigh. It's not that I don't like Cohen covers, although I do generally prefer his own versions. I love hearing Judy Collins sing Cohen, and Lucy Kaplansky did a very nice Bird On The Wire when we saw her at WolfTrap last year. I don't think Joan Baez exactly improves on the originals (too high and warbly), but I don't actively dislike her versions. Jennifer Warnes, also fine with me. It was just that I didn't like those covers. Which was a pity.

I have to agree that Bono's Gushy Drooling Fanboy act was amusing, though.