Derailroaded

Do we really want to live in a world void of "Wild Man" Fischers, and all their unique forms of creative expression? Savor the fascinating, thought-provoking Derailroaded, and you be the judge.

You don't have to be crazy to sing like Larry "Wild Man" Fischer -- subject of Josh Rubin's reverential documentary Derailroaded -- but it helps.

Larry (Wild Man) Fischer, the psychotic songwriter and performer (found to be both paranoid-schizophrenic and bipolar) is sympathetically profiled in Josh Rubin's documentary.

As discomfortingly fascinating as listening to a couple's heated argument at a table near yours in a restaurant.

In spite of its sympathy, Derailroaded veers into reality-TV voyeurism whenever the former street singer bemoans his lack of fame or breaks into childish caterwauling.

Having a Rutgers psychology professor comment on Fischer's general symptoms is downright amateurish. In a documentary about a living subject, conclusions are better drawn through rigorous observation, not explained away in some tidy pop-psychological portraiture.

Wild Man Fischer's music is disarmingly honest and heartfelt, but even its charms can't save Derailroaded from ending up a train wreck.