''McCartney 3,2,1'' is an American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

television miniseries starring English musician

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

and American producer

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

. The six-part series features the pair discussing McCartney's career, from

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

to his time as a solo artist. It was digitally released by

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

on July 16, 2021.

Premise

The series features a sit-down between

and music producer

, as the pair discuss McCartney's early life, work with

, and his 50 years as a solo artist. The series also covers the songwriting, influences, and personal relationships that formed McCartney's songs.

Episodes

Release

The series was announced on May 17, 2021, and digitally released via

on July 16, 2021. The trailer was released a week before the series' debut, on July 9. Internationally, the series premiered on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

on August 25, 2021.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an approval rating of 97% based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Casual listeners' mileage may vary, but audiophiles and Beatles devotees will love seeing Sir Paul McCartney and producer Rick Rubin come together to talk shop."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the series a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 14 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Steve Green of '' IndieWire'' gave the film a grade of "A−" and wrote: "There's an electricity in the music itself, paired with Rubin and McCartney's parallel reactions to discoveries buried deep in these song mixes, that the show almost doesn't need that added visual momentum. But Heinzerling has a deft touch for when and where to augment the proceedings with an extra light show or to turn McCartney himself into a dolly track pivot point." Writing for ''Variety'', Chris Willman said: "''McCartney 3, 2, 1'' is such an unerring delight that it sets a very high bar for Beatlemania satiation this year. Not because it's that artfully created or brilliantly hosted, but maybe because it doesn't aspire to impress anyone with anything except how effortlessly it prompts the most talented musician of the last century to empty out a good portion of his brainpan for public perusal." Stuart Jeffries of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' rated the documentary 4 out of 5 stars, writing, "This bounteous feast for Beatles fans sees Paul McCartney dive into the back catalogue with producer Rick Rubin – who then does something truly amazing." Martin Brown of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' rated the miniseries 3 out of 5 stars, and praised the depiction of positive messages and role models, citing creativity, thoughtfulness, and compassion.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Hulu American English-language television shows Documentary television series about music Television programmes about the Beatles 2020s American documentary television series Hulu original programming 2021 American television series debuts 2021 American television series endings Paul McCartney