Parents' Guide to

Trainwreck: Woodstock '99

By Monique Jones, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Docuseries on failed festival won't answer its own questions

Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 TV show poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

age 18+

Based on 4 parent reviews

age 18+

Real nudity, violence, and crime for "entertainment".

Disturbing. I turned it off after nearly finishing first episode. Netflix is profiting off of public nudity of women and men that had no idea their images would be used nearly 25 years later for entertainment that can be paused, recorded, and shared. Streaming platforms and smartphones didn't exist. Interesting how they can say how terrible it was, and then use it for entertainment. These are real people and kids as young as 14, not some actors pretending on an HBO series. This was interesting but could have been done without showing real indecencies and real sexual atrocities and violence involving young people. There needs to be consent for this stuff and there's no way they could have gotten this. Would have been a well done documentary, had they blurred the nudity and obscured the identity of people involved. Other production companies have been prosecuted for showing nudity and profiting from impaired girls and failing to prove age or consent. Irresponsible & degrading film-making.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
1 person found this helpful.
age 18+

17+. Fascinating. Traumatizing. Infuriating. Revolting. Triggering, and Well Done.

Wildly inappropriate for children and teens in highschool. Hear me out. I like Korn too. A really well done documentary for adults; but if the headlining bands and nostalgia of your youth make you think this would be fun to watch with the kiddos; “I saw Korn in concert too!” Think again. There’s rape. Kids age 15 rape. Rape in moshpits. Sex lineups in raves. Violent Abuse. Alcohol and drug abuse. Massive violence and destruction. Video footage of women getting assaulted and sober, grown men on film justifying it through victim shaming. — I wondered how they were able to show women being assaulted on camera without her permission for this documentary? — concerning. Zero male accountability for anything that occurs. It’s the MeToo Movement’s worst nightmare. Triggers even men. So not for the kids. But for the parents; I really enjoyed this documentary. I felt it was really well done in the way it just laid facts down on the table of what happened, and let’s you form your own opinion on it. And; it will be lost on the type of people who enjoyed being there at its worst. Some of it was glamorized by people who were there; however the hundreds of —yes hundreds of — rape survivors weren’t interviewed. It was a really, really interesting look at how people justify their actions, eye opening entitlement of the predominantly white man, mob mentality, lack of accountability, MeTo views on it now, and how music can affect peoples emotions and behaviour. It questions morality. I hope lots of women who were there share the truths they couldn’t share then, now with the MeToo movement. Worth the watch if you’re up for some hard to watch scenes. I feel like good documentaries leave you thinking about them for weeks, and create an emotional reaction, and makes for great coffee conversations, and this film certainly did that. Safe for women to watch so long as rape and assault is not a trigger. This documentary especially showcases what many call “White College Douchebags,” being extremely physically and sexually violent and aggressive which can be triggering for many, many people.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
1 person found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (1 ):

This docuseries hopes to capture the same perverse magic as the various Fyre Fest documentaries that caught audience's attentions. On one level, Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 shows how the modern documentary has changed for mass consumption--the sheer amount of projects trying to create a "what the heck were they thinking?" vibe have skyrocketed since the Fyre Fest docs. Because of it, Trainwreck feels derivative. On another level, Trainwreck focuses almost exclusively on the horror of the music festival to get people talking without truly investigating the real stories behind the wildness. The series doesn't discuss how both Woodstock the '69 and '99 festivals were racially homogeneous -- while they claimed to address peace and love, the real-world issues affecting the journey to that peace and love, like racism, sexism, and class privileges (how were festival goers able to afford the high cost of tickets and transportation?) weren't discussed.

The series does touch on how the rioting seemed to stem from White male anger, an anger that feels unearned, considering the actual tragedies happening within the festival, such as women being harassed and sexually assaulted. Apart from the clear logistical issues at the festival, the series merely hints at the culture that told these young White men to burn things down without taking account for their actions. This makes the viewing experience less of an introspective exercise and more of one asking its audience to balk and titter at perceived zaniness.

TV Details

  • Premiere date: August 3, 2022
  • Network: Netflix
  • Genre: Reality TV
  • TV rating: TV-MA
  • Last updated: December 1, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate