Mister Nice Guy

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon

Crit

"I spent my whole life trying to help people become famous," says the titular rock/entertainment/superchef agent, "but there's absolutely nothing that's healthy about fame."

Gordon, whom I'd never heard of and you probably hadn't either, comes across as a saintly but delightfully human JewBu (a Jew who embraces Buddhism, Michael Douglas explains) who hung out with Jimi and Janis and Groucho, who gave us Alice Cooper (with whom his relationship remains as loving as is possible without actual penetration) and Anne Murray, and whose most treasured accomplishment may be cooking for the Dalai Lama (DL sniffs the air . . . "Yak butter tea?" he asks. Gordon confirms. DL smiles: "That's why I left Tibet").

As schlubby-looking a man as ever graced the planet, he has loved and been loved by countless beautiful women ("Shep likes the ladies," says director and producer Mike Myers, and everybody else in front of the camera confirms it). His one disappointment is never having a relationship that survived to the babymaking stage, but he has been a surrogate father to many, and in particular to four grandchildren of one of his loves.

I'm guessing you could find people to say negative things about the guy if you wanted to,but Myers clearly loves him too much to have had any interest in whatever muck there might be to rake, and I have no complaints. A hagiography for my generation.