First there was Hannah Montana. Next came The Jonas Brothers, followed by the late Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. All of these artists have been the subjects of recent concert documentaries (or “con/docs” as I like to call them). The latest on this evergrowing list is the British boyband One Direction. When I heard about a year ago that Sony was making this film, I thought “Are they still going to be popular by the time this film comes out?” Amazingly, they are.
However, director Morgan Spurlock, the same guy who ate all that McDonald’s food nearly 10 years ago so he could make an important and memorable movie (“Super Size Me”), took the group’s title a little too literally for this project, going in only “one direction” for “This Is Us”. It’s tough to call this film a documentary because there’s no arc, no conflict, nothing revealed and nothing learned. “This Is Us” is basically a concert film with some interviews tossed in, made solely for diehard fans.
The film starts strong, as we are introduced to the singers: Liam, Niall, Harry, Louis and Zayn, and see how they all came together on the UK version of TV show “The X-Factor”, with the help of judge Simon Cowell (also an executive producer on this film). Cowell also appears briefly, in a straight-on camera shot, sitting at a desk in his typical black shirt with a spot of tea next to him. We also get a few cameo appearances backstage at Madison Square Garden from comedian Chris Rock and director Martin Scorsese, who seemed starstruck when meeting the band with his granddaughter. “I bring her stuff, she brings me stuff.” I think the 1D members and I were thinking the same thing, “What the heck is he talking about?”
Then come the musical numbers. An unfortunate decision Spurlock made was to include too many songs. After the third or fourth time seeing the lads pouring out their affections to thousands of screaming girls with another of their sappy pop tunes, they completely lost me. The occasional glitzy, 3D effects popping out of the screen don’t help either. In between these concert clips is the typical backstage, tour bus, and real-life footage from the band’s sold-out 2012 world tour.
One of the main problems with “This Is Us” is, because there are five guys, the attention and screen time gets spread-out. When alone on camera the singers do say a few interesting things about their incredible lives. But most of the time we get them all together, talking with each other, and a lot of it seems staged and rather awkward. You never feel connected to any of them as individuals.
“Katy Perry: Part of Me”, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” and “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” all, in some ways, included real drama, which made those movies worth seeing even for those who aren’t fans of the performers. You don’t get any of that here. Instead, it’s basically five young men having the time of their lives, supported by millions of adoring fans. They’re shown as nice, humble kids with supportive families. And I’m sure it’s all true. But it just doesn’t make for a compelling movie.
“One Direction: This Is Us” is rated PG for some language and the obligatory shots of the boys with their shirts off and a few times in their undies. Tween/teen girls will likely sing along with the songs and laugh and giggle at the boys’ goofy antics. For them, it’s a B+. However, if you’re not a 1D fanatic there is absolutely no reason to see this film.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “One Direction: This Is Us” gets a C. I expected more from Spurlock than this.
I can’t end this review without including the story of how I nearly met Spurlock a year and a half ago. I was at an office building in LA, on the phone, about to go up on an elevator. Spurlock was standing near the elevator texting on his phone. Sadly, I couldn’t get off of my call in time to talk to him before the elevator went up. Maybe someday I’ll bump into him ordering a McRib, listening to 1D or texting someone about his next film.