Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story TV review — an indulgent survey of 40 years of big ballads

A four-part, five-hour documentary devoted to one of the more anodyne groups of classic rock, Hulu’s Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story is a competently made yet protracted survey of 40 years of big ballads and bigger hair.

For the band’s legions of fans there will admittedly be much to relish here. Combining archive treasures, concert clips and contemporary interviews, the show delves into the band’s history, revisits their mid-1980s rise and goes backstage on the eve of an anniversary comeback. But viewers who only know enough of “Livin’ on a Prayer” to get through an end-of-night singalong will probably be left wondering how they could possibly be only halfway there after two-and-a-half hours.

At the centre of the show is of course the eponymous frontman Jon Bon Jovi. A born performer whose outsized ambitions of stardom quickly outgrew his modest New Jersey origins, he makes for a curiously unengaging storyteller here. Though he fosters a certain intimacy by inviting the cameras to follow him through his present-day rehearsal routine and recovery from vocal-cord surgery, his contributions offer little more than platitudes that fail to penetrate the professional surface.

So while there’s plenty of earnest talk about dreams, determination, evolution, legacy and giving “102 per cent”, there’s barely a flash of humour or humility. Some comments are gratingly self-congratulatory and are indicative of a wider sense of indulgence that hangs over the show.

Other bandmates — such as ex-guitarist Richie Sambora and drummer Tico Torres — provide an injection of personality and a contrast to the singer’s clean-cut image; though anecdotes from their era of excess are kept vague. Detail and original insight is also missing in discussions surrounding creative decisions or the tensions that led to hiatuses and line-up changes. And the fact that Sambora’s abrupt 2013 exit came two decades after the group’s heyday inevitably dulls the impact of the band’s most notable bit of interpersonal drama.

That said, there’s nothing here that risks giving Bon Jovi a bad name or disappointing anyone that’s simply looking to revel in nostalgia for a time when “low IQ high RPM” tracks ruled the airwaves.

★★★☆☆

On Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US from April 26