In a attempt to find happiness, comedian and activist Russell Brand is drowning himself on drugs, sex, and fame. But could he really find the true meaning of happiness, or is it just a self sabotage period?
Brand emerges as exasperating company - variously intelligent, amusing and insufferable - but Noel Gallagher steals the show, declaring that he'll only buy into Brand's revolution if he can be the Duke of Manchester.
Whatever value there is in seeing a major British media celebrity, who was briefly on track to become a Hollywood star as well, embrace openly radical positions, Brand has delivered that in full.
You're left with the sense that Brand might yet be the subject of a great documentary, but he'd probably have to be on the other side of the planet while it was being made.
Timoner's doc seems at its best when asking if a person can grow up, atone for their mistakes, lead people to think and make them laugh, all at the same time and in public.
Whether you agree with his system-damning rhetoric or see him as no better than anyone else in our clogged punditocracy, "Brand: A Second Coming" is, if not a careful portrait, at least an orgy of personality.
