Billy Joel: And So It Goes

Lacy isn’t overselling her project. "And So It Goes," named for one of Joel's more ruminative songs, may not contain any true bombshells but it delves into Joel’s life in unprecedented detail. Anchored by Lacy’s lengthy interviews with Joel. .... Virtually everyone from Joel’s life — even those carrying painful baggage — shows up to speak.

“And So It Goes” isn’t flashy. It’s not trying to shake up what music documentaries can be. But like its subject, it isn’t about surfaces. Both Joel and the makers of “And So It Goes” understand that when you look beyond the surface, you can glimpse the soul.

There’s so much detail here that even “Piano Man” – which is easily one of the most overexposed, wrung-dry songs on the planet – sounds new again. That’s a real feat for a doc, and proof that the giant-sized run-time of So It Goes is more than warranted.

For all its infomercial moments, including a few too many testimonials and scenes of cheering fans in concert halls, And So It Goes also has moments of startling candor rare for the current state of authorized music docs.

I can’t render a definitive judgment on “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” because I haven’t seen Part 2. There are moments when Part 1 does grow a bit repetitive (I wish the film weren’t so doggedly chronological). Yet a day after I saw it, it has stayed with me.

A documentary portrait of a superstar artist and his surprisingly routine story. Tightly constructed it is not. Good natured it is, though, even while being worshipful to the point of parody.

And So It Goes is a disappointingly underwhelming music documentary. Clocking in at nearly five hours, it’s both indefensibly long and exasperatingly short on formal inventiveness.