Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016)

Tony Robbins has always struck me as a televangelist-type dude. When I happen upon him, I generally roll my eyes. He comes across as a magnetic dude spouting self-help platitudes. But Gary heard him interviewed on a podcast and found him to be interesting enough to want to watch this doc streaming on Netflix.

Having grown up in church, attending revivals and emotional weeks at Bible camp culminating in BIG DECISIONS, this felt extremely familiar to me. There’s a frenzy of anticipation and a readiness to ride the wave. Skepticism gets checked at the door and breakthroughs happen by the minute. It’s so expected that your life will change at one of these days-long seminars that one of the later sessions covered here is all about forcing a personal breakthrough if you’re one of the few who haven’t had one yet.

The problem with documenting something like this is that you can’t really know what it’s like to be in it. I wasn’t feeling the energy. I hadn’t ponied up the $5k attendance fee. I wasn’t baring my soul with strangers.  I could only be a voyeur. So, when Tony spoke, my reaction was, “well… maybe? But maybe not?” instead of “YES TONY. RIGHT AWAY TONY. YOU’VE CHANGED MY LIFE TONY.” All this movie did for me was change my perspective on the man Tony Robbins. I believe he’s sincere. I believe he has a gift for knowing what people need from him. But I also believe that for 99% of the people who attend this conference, the feelings fade and the decisions made while there fade right along with them. It’s like promising to stop masturbating on the last day of camp: yep -- definitely following through with that... for a few days.

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