Most rock documentaries feel like a polished PR exercise. You know the drill: talking heads in expensive chairs telling you how "revolutionary" the band was while old concert clips play in the background. Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is not that. Honestly, it’s the opposite. It’s a messy, sweaty, sometimes deeply uncomfortable home movie that spans four decades.
The film centers on a promise made by Omar Rodríguez-López to Cedric Bixler-Zavala back in 2000. On the cusp of breaking big with At the Drive-In, Omar told his best friend: "If this ever gets weird, promise me we can just stop."
Narrator: It got weird. Very weird.
The Secret Vault of Omar Rodríguez-López
The backbone of this movie is Omar’s personal archive. For forty years, the man has been a literal fly on the wall of his own life. He carried a camera everywhere. We aren’t just seeing the "greatest hits"; we're seeing the duo as immigrant kids in El Paso, the frantic energy of the hardcore scene, and the internal rot that eventually ate At the Drive-In from the inside out.
Director Nicolas Jack Davies had a mountain of footage to climb. He whittled down hundreds of hours into a two-hour-and-seven-minute narrative that feels more like a therapy session than a music doc. You see the sheer exhaustion on their faces during the Relationship of Command era. You see the moment the brotherhood starts to fray.
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It's raw. Sometimes too raw.
Why the "Stop" Button Wasn't Pressed
Success is a hell of a drug, but for these two, actual drugs were the first hurdle. The transition from the "punk ethics" of At the Drive-In to the sprawling, prog-rock madness of The Mars Volta wasn't just a musical shift—it was a survival tactic. But the "weirdness" Omar warned about didn't come from the fame or the money. It came from the shadows.
- The Loss of Jeremy Ward: The death of their sound manipulator and close friend in 2003 cast a long, dark shadow over the band’s peak years.
- The Scientology Wedge: This is where the documentary gets heavy. Cedric’s involvement with Scientology is handled with a level of honesty that’s rare in the industry. It wasn't just a "phase"—it was a systematic dismantling of his relationship with Omar.
The Scientology Conflict and the "Suppressive Person" Label
If you’re looking for a "behind the music" story about how they wrote the riffs to "The Widow," you might be disappointed. This is a story about how a cult nearly killed a brotherhood. The film details how senior Scientologists essentially coached Cedric to see Omar as a "Suppressive Person" (SP).
They blamed Omar’s father—a psychiatrist—for Cedric's unhappiness. Because Scientology is famously anti-psychiatry, Omar was toxic by association. Imagine your best friend, the person you've spent every waking second with for twenty years, suddenly looking at you like you're the source of all evil in his life.
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That’s what happened.
Omar, in a move that some fans find controversial and others find incredibly moving, actually tried to meet Cedric halfway. He even took Scientology classes and attended an initiation ceremony just to keep his friend in his life. It didn't work. The band imploded in 2013 with a public, bitter breakup on Twitter.
What the Film Gets Right (and What It Leaves Out)
Critics have pointed out that Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is very much "Omar's version" of history. Since it's his footage, we see through his lens. Jim Ward, the third pillar of At the Drive-In, is often painted as the "problem" or the one who didn't get it.
If you're a die-hard ATDI fan, the way Jim is portrayed might sting. The film doesn't really give him a platform to respond. It’s a subjective truth. It’s the truth of two guys who felt like the world was against them, even when they were the ones burning the bridges.
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Key Takeaways from the Documentary
- Creative Obsession is Costly: The perfectionism that made De-Loused in the Comatorium a masterpiece also made the band a nightmare to live in.
- The Danny Masterson Context: While the film focuses on the friendship, the background noise of Cedric and his wife Chrissie Carnell Bixler's legal battle against Danny Masterson looms large. It explains the desperation and the eventual "waking up" that led Cedric back to Omar.
- Redemption is Quiet: The end of the film isn't a massive stadium show. It’s two middle-aged men sitting together, talking, and realizing that the person is more important than the project.
How to Watch and What to Look For
The film hit select theaters in late 2024 and has been making its way through the festival circuit (Raindance, SXSW, CPH:DOX). If you're watching it now on digital or at a screening, pay attention to the sound design. It uses snippets of shaky live takes and rough studio demos rather than the polished album tracks. It makes the whole experience feel like you're trapped in a van with them in 1998.
Actionable Insights for Fans:
- Don't expect a concert film: This is a character study. If you want high-def live footage, stick to the Electric Ballroom sets on YouTube.
- Watch for the "Cassandra Gemini" explanation: There are some nuggets for the lore-hunters about how their most complex songs came together amidst the chaos.
- Prepare for the emotional weight: The third act, focusing on their reconciliation and life with their partners, is significantly more moving than any guitar solo they've ever recorded.
Ultimately, the movie proves that Omar and Cedric didn't stop when it got weird. They kept going until they came out the other side. It's a reminder that even the most "difficult" artists are often just kids trying not to lose the only person who truly understands them.
If you haven't seen it yet, look for it on VOD platforms or check the Oscilloscope Laboratories website for local screening dates. It’s a heavy lift, but for anyone who grew up with a "Relationship of Command" poster on their wall, it’s essential viewing.