“Stans”

Part fan story, part cultural deep dive, and part personal reflection on what it really means to love an artist, director Steven Leckart‘s “Stans” isn’t your typical music documentary. Built around Eminem’s legendary 2000 track “Stan,” the film flips the song’s narrative by spotlighting real fans whose lives have been shaped by his music. Authorized and crafted with direct access to musician, actor, and rapper Eminem, it’s both a love letter to the fans who made him a global icon and a sobering meditation on the costs of celebrity worship.

The documentary opens by tracing the cultural afterlife of “Stan,” a song that not only defined Eminem’s early career but also gave birth to a term that now lives in the Oxford English Dictionary. What began as shorthand for a dangerously obsessive fan has since evolved into a badge of honor in pop culture.

What makes this documentary so engaging is how it balances celebration with honesty. On one hand, you see how Eminem’s openness about things like addiction, depression, and bullying gave people something to hold onto, with his music becoming therapy for fans who felt unseen. On the other hand, the film isn’t afraid to poke at the darker side of fandom, including the blurred lines between admiration, obsession, and the toll it takes on the artist who’s at the center of it all.

The fan interviews are raw and heartfelt, often mirroring the song’s haunting refrain, “I’m just like you.” Some stories are inspiring, some are unsettling, but all of them make it clear how powerful music can be in shaping identity and community. Watching Eminem reflect on it all feels surprisingly vulnerable and human, especially as he discusses the fine line between art, identity, and responsibility.

This is an engaging, well-structured documentary that balances empathy with critique. It celebrates the community and catharsis that Eminem’s music has inspired while questioning how easily admiration can slip into entitlement and obsession.

Stylishly produced and emotionally thorough, “Stans” manages to be both entertaining and unsettling, an apt reflection of the duality that has always surrounded Eminem himself and the complicated ways music, fandom, and identity can intertwine.

By: Louisa Moore