Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

I feel I should say upfront that this review will really not be about Justin Bieber himself, or his music. Let the music critics, and the millions of faceless people on the Internet who enjoy talking about him (even the people who can't stop talking about how much they hate his music) do that. I'm a film critic, and will be reviewing his concert documentary, Never Say Never. I'm going to stick to what I (hopefully) do best.

That being said, the film itself is a bit of a mess. It never quite grabs onto a cohesive angle, or decides what kind of movie it wants to be. Obviously, the young fans of the singer will not care about this. The kids at my screening were laughing and having a great time. I was less enthused, but that's to be expected. The movie wants to be one part concert film, part biography, part hero-worship, part rags to riches story (or, in Bieber's case, "middle-class Canada to riches" story), and part 3D gimmick-fest, as a lot of stuff flies at the camera. The problem is director Jon Chu (Step Up 3D) never settles on a single vision. The movie is sloppily put together, jumps to various points in the Bieber time line whenever it sees fit, and never lets us get quite close enough to Bieber himself. Heck, the kid doesn't even get to tell his own story. His managers, publicists, and celebrity friends (like music artist Usher) do that for him. All Bieber gets to do is smile, sing, and act like a goofy kid backstage, which I guess is kind of refreshing. For all his fame, he still gets to be a kid.

I want to focus on one of the film's biggest narrative problems. Early on, the film includes a subtitle that counts down the days to Bieber's biggest concert ever at Madison Square Garden. The various talking heads who represent his entourage and friends keep on stressing what a big moment this is. Unfortunately, the movie kills the suspense by actually showing us the concert before he gets there. Randomly thrown throughout the film is concert footage that is, yes, taken from Madison Square Garden. This editing choice also pretty much kills the entire third act of the film itself. That's when Bieber suddenly develops a throat infection from straining his voice, and everyone wonders if he's going to be able to perform at the Garden, or if he'll have to cancel. Since we've been watching footage of him performing there from the very start of the movie, we already know the answer, so what's the movie trying to do here?

That being said, there are some nice moments. We see some footage throughout of Bieber having personal time with some of his fans, and it truly looks like he appreciates everything they have done. I also kind of enjoyed how Bieber's rise to fame was kind of an old fashioned Hollywood story combined with modern technology, like Youtube or Twitter. The movie actually opens with an entertaining montage of various Youtube videos (cute kittens, wedding blunders, etc.), before showing us some of the singer's earliest performances, which he posted on the website, and got noticed. I liked this angle, and wish the movie had used it more. If you are to believe this film, his celebrity was an almost overnight thing.

That's really the big problem I have with Never Say Never. The whole thing is obviously a sanitized corporate product. We don't really learn much about the kid himself. Sure, his fans already probably know everything about him, but what about us in the audience who walked into this movie almost cold? (My only exposure to Bieber before this movie was some appearances on the Today Show.) The tricky narrative, and the fact that they don't even let him speak for himself, gave me the impression that I was only getting part of the story, or at least the parts that the Bieber corporate empire want me to hear. Despite the personal involvement in the project (Bieber himself is credited as one of the producers), this movie's about as deep as one of those unauthorized biographies that probably popped up as soon as the kid hit fame.

While I may not be a fan of his music or his movie, I do have some kind of respect for what he's doing. Every generation needs its teen idol, after all. At least the kid has a sense of humor about himself, and the film occasionally shows this. Whatever happens to him in the future, I wish him the best of luck, and hope he enjoys the ride of his career, no matter how long it lasts. I won't be following it, but I wish him the best.

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