Looking for the real Easy Rider? Swap the Harleys for a multi-colored bus and we have the legend of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, whose road trip would change the course of the counterculture. Alex Gibney and Alison Ellwood's documentary stitches together the LSD-fueled 16mm home movies taken by the participants, covering unlikely historic moments like the creation of the first tie-dyed T-shirt. Sometimes the footage is shaky, and the story threatens to derail itself by spinning off on too many tangents, but ultimately the rough-and-ready style fits with the experimental spirit of the Pranksters. The film's narration is a group effort and sounds like a comedic chorus as testimonies contradict each other, contributing to the Pranksters' ingenuous charm as they take on a strait-laced, segregated America, and lead the way to the Age of Aquarius.
