Box office The film grossed $107,055 during the first two days of its limited theatrical release in the United States. and peaked at number six on the UK Blu-ray Chart Top 100, number 13 on the UK DVD Chart Top 100, and 11 on the UK Video Chart Top 100.
Critical response The film was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, many of whom noted that the humanized portrayal of Cobain distinguished the film from prior works on the same subject. On
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 98% approval rating based on 89 reviews with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads "
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck makes a persuasive case for its subject without resorting to hagiography—and includes plenty of rare and unreleased footage for fans". At
Metacritic, the film has received a score of 83 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The website also gave the film a "Metacritic Must-See" award. David Fear of
Rolling Stone described the film as "the unfiltered Kurt experience," noting that Cobain is shown "not [as] a spokesman for a generation," but as "a human being, and a husband, and a father." Boyd van Hoeij of
The Hollywood Reporter concluded that the film is "impressive in parts, but wildly uneven as a whole."
Consequence of Sounds Justin Gerber gave the film an "A" grade, writing that the film is "what can only be defined as the definitive Cobain documentary." Katie Walsh of
Indiewire described it as "a true achievement, both in documentary filmmaking, and in preserving the memory and legacy of Cobain." Audrey Adler of
NME wrote that the film is "the most holistic portrait of a rock icon ever created" and gave it a score of 9/10. Chris Nashawaty of
Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film is "a portrait that's at turns confessional, confused, and yes, even at times happy, that bring Cobain ... to life in a way that no other film or book has." Dennis Harvey of
Variety wrote that the film is "absorbing stuff, amply conveying the magnetism of a conflicted leader who drew fanatical adoration, yet who one suspects wasn't easy company."
Criticism In May 2015, Alice Wheeler, a prominent rock photographer and personal friend of Kurt, criticized the film, stating that "Morgen repeats all the fake stories that were originally designed to minimize the truth about his drug use", along with "I am not saying none of those things happened, but the film emphasizes the two last years of Kurt's life, when he was on drugs and depressed. It is a disservice to his memory and music not to explore the years when he wrote all that great music and was happy". Wheeler also went on to note that the film has "no clear delineation of what happened before heroin and Courtney Love and after" and that the film "doesn't give a clear picture of the creative spirit in the Olympia music scene that Nirvana was part of before they became huge. Unfortunately
Montage of Heck focuses on the Courtney years and the journal entries of the last two years while ignoring Kurt's more productive happy years. In an interview with RiffYou.com, Osborne reinforced his criticisms, stating "I happen to know a lot of the stuff [shared in the movie] isn't true. If people want to believe it and think he was capable of doing all those things, that's their problem. But, I am not going along with it". Morgen later addressed Osborne's criticism of the film on the
Opie and Anthony Radio Show, stating "He [Buzz] thinks everything Kurt says is bullshit, which, I actually kind of believe him. That was kind of the whole premise of my movie, was that Kurt was very mercurial. He was always spinning tales. So I thought, rather than make a movie based on his interviews, I'm going to make a movie based on his art. I don't know if there's a single fact, this is not a movie about facts and stats." In June 2015, after the film released,
Dale Crover, another personal friend of Cobain, who played drums in both
Fecal Matter,
Nirvana, and Cobain's musical heroes the
Melvins, was interviewed on a podcast with Jack Antonio about the film. He was also critical of the film, notably about the "fat retard girl" story featured in the film, which he denounced as being not true, stating "Like that story he tells about the 'fat retard girl,' that's totally fake. We would have known that story. Even talking to friends of mine from Aberdeen who saw it, it's like 'I never heard about that.' I mean, you can tell he's reading it from a piece of paper. He probably wrote it, but it's not about him. The names of the guys he mentions in there, 'Oh, I used to hang out with Bill and Bob and Jeff,' it's like, who? Those people don't exist." In 2016,
Krist Novoselic responded to Buzz's criticism of the film, stating "That's just Buzz, he's always been like that, but we love him so we just accept him for that. He's always had these opinions. Like, 'Oh, there goes Buzz again.' You never know what he's gonna say, but he means well, and he's a great musician. He's been a dear friend for a long time. That's the way it is."
Aaron Burckhard, Nirvana's first drummer, also was critical of the film, reflecting Osbourne's views in that it was "mostly bullshit". Frances stated that "that movie ended up being not what I wanted it to be," and stated "The first half of the movie is really beautiful; the second half, we all ended up hating Kurt. We were all like, 'You whiny little bitch. What is wrong with you?' That wasn't reflective of what we were trying to convey." Cobain's mother, Wendy, also had regret in relation to working on the film and with Morgen. Frances countered stating that while "I don't regret working with him," she did "regret not being in a headspace to be more involved. I was on a lot of drugs. I was not present. I was not capable of having authentic input." == Companion book ==