Review of Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016) by Alex M — 23 Jul 2016

This felt less like a documentary and more like an infomercial for Tony Robbins and his seminars/books/courses. Some people that were highlighted during the documentary were:

1) A suicidal young man.

2) A 19-year-old girl that had "Daddy issues".

3) A suicidal young woman that was part of the Children of God religion.

4) A woman that was in an unfulfilling relationship with a feminine man.

5) A feminine man that needed to learn to act like a real man and ROAR!!!!

Tony Robbins claims that there is no need for months/years of therapy because you can change your life in a moment. We saw a few success stories in this "documentary" but my concern with it was that it seemed as if it was produced by Tony Robbins himself or that he had full editorial control. There were no "hard-hitting" questions and there were no personal revelations about Tony other than what he offered to one of his seminar attendees when he revealed that "My Mom beat the shit out of me". When he is asked by the director "What about giving people a better understanding of who Tony Robbins is?", Tony's response is "I don't know that people give a shit." If you're looking for more information about what makes Tony Robbins tick, you will be disappointed. If you want to be inspired by a man that has dedicated his life to helping people make transformational changes in their lives, then this movie is excellent. It may even inspire you to pay $5,000 to attend his "Date with Destiny" seminar.

Ultimately, this is a slick, well-produced promotional video that takes you behind the scenes of one of Tony Robbins' most successful seminars. It gives you the feeling of actually being there and while it may seem strange to see complete strangers bond effortlessly and give unconditional love to each other, I wondered whether there is really going to be lasting change in these people's lives or if they are succumbing to the suggestions of Tony Robbins and they will ultimately fail. The optimist in me would like to think that there will be lasting changes. The cynic in me thinks that in the real world, people will revert back to their old patterns and the effect of the seminar will be lost on them quickly.