Where were you before?: How 'I'm Still Here' is creating confusing hype

The most interesting top to me this week in popular culture as been the reaction to the documentary 'I'm Still Here' directed by Casey Affleck about the actor Joaquin Phoenix. The film follows Phoenix during his, lets say, "peculiar period" beginning with his unusual stint on Letterman, following him through the beginnings of his 'Rap career' and basically just chronicling his destruction and deterioration going from from the status of Oscar nominated actor to 'hey that hobo looks like Joaquin Phoenix.'
What I find more interesting than the details of the film are the reviews themselves. Nobody seems to know what to make of this film. The Chicago Tribune gave it no stars. None. Out of five. Dana Stevens from Slate said "The worst thing about 'I'm Still Here' is that it exists." Manohla Dhargis of the New York Times had a somewhat favorable review as did, film critic guru Roger Ebert. He gave the film 3 stars but cited as a disclaimer, "It could be one, it could be four. What do stars have to do with it?"
The main question, however, that seemed to be what directed the basis of the reviews was: Is this a hoax?

To me the critics looked at the film in one of two ways:
Joaquin Phoenix is self destructing fool in a film that has no meaning other than to show the actor's demise through his pointless antics. It's nothing but for show and watching Phoenix destroy himself is nothing but depressing.

or

Though it is unknown if this film is truly a document of Joaquin's personal life, or whether the film is a hoax, it comments on the condition of being a celebrity and the destruction of the entertainment history. Joaquin Phoenix gives the performance of a life time in a film misunderstood.

I think it's very interesting to see how divided people are on this film before having seen it myself. I feel like these reviews are reflective of "is this art for art sake or does it have a purpose" type of idea. Are Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck sitting in a room somewhere laughing and reeling in the fact that people are actually taking this seriously, or is it supposed to really be the insight into a collapsing mind? Maybe this is what they wanted all along? Maybe we will never find out. Whatever the case, this film is generating an incredible amout of hype, even if it is for being a terrible film.
I'm probably going to see this movie soon, then I'll update with my review. Real or not real, if there is one thing this film has conveyed to me even before I see it, it's that people will never cease to be entertained by the demise of a celebrity, even a crazy one.