Movie Review – ‘Piece By Piece’ is as vibrant as Pharrell Williams

If Piece by Piece (2024) were a straight biography/documentary about Pharrell Williams, I don’t believe it would be any less interesting. The addition of Lego animation and Lego-generated star-power is value-added entertainment, and it will earn multiple viewings and the physical media in a coveted place in living rooms everywhere.

The colorful Piece by Piece would seem a counter-productive way to tell the story of a producer, singer-songwriter, clothing designer, and rapper who’s strived his entire life to be taken seriously. From his humble beginnings in the government housing of the Atlantis projects in Virginia Beach, Pharrell has always been an outlier. He’s a blerd, a black nerd, and as those of us in a very selective club can tell you – acceptance by anyone is a goal best left to those desperate for the attention, which we want but not really.

Honestly, we just want to be left alone to do our thing and geek out whenever completely inappropriate.

Not great at school and having to repeat the seventh-grade a future with a stable career didn’t seem in the cards until he joined middle school band and met future The Neptunes co-founder, Chad Hugo. Together, while trying to break onto the music scene with their band, they quickly cultivated a distinct reputation with their backing beats and tracks. Over the runtime of Piece by Piece, the pitfalls of fast fame and chasing a dream that never seems to have a pinnacle are revealed, though (at least as far as we know) without the drug charges, racketeering, and gang activity seem to dog other notable music producers. Now grounded with his wife, Helen and their four children, he lives a quiet, fulfilling life, making music, clothes, and giving back to the community.

Throughout Piece by Piece, it may come as a surprise to just how many songs Pharrell has lent his voice, tracks or production style to. Not content only swim in the waters of Hip-Hop and Rap, he’s also waded into Pop, and Electronica, and Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stephani, Jay Z, Daft Punk, and Justin Timberlake add their voices and likenesses to the film.

Piece by Piece is a documentary for people who need to be cajoled into seeing a documentary, which is likely how Pharrell was convinced to make one. The result is a vibrant, technicolor travelogue through time and music that promises not to tread too deep in the emotional bits, though you may get the feels once or twice. Documentarian Morgan Neville steers Pharrell, and the audience, through his childhood, his doubts, his frustrations, and his fame, while reminding us all that Pharrell is as human as the rest of us and blessed with a strong support system that continues to see him through the rough patches.

Along with the music recognizable across genres, Pharrell wrote 5 new songs for Piece by Piece. The entirety is award consideration material, easily accessible by anyone who’s listened to the radio in the last 20 years. It’s rare to see a documentary by one who has only just cracked 50 and isn’t dead, but his music and infectious embrace of joy and happiness by any means make him a worthy subject.

Piece by Piece (2024) is Rated PG, for mild emoji-covered swears, wild rides, Snoop’s patented haze, and Legos in bikinis.

Note: there are scenes with strobing effects which may negatively affect sensitive viewers. Please use discretion.