Glee: The 3D Concert Movie

I think I can pinpoint the precise moment I realized that Glee: The 3D Concert Movie was not intended for me. It occurs late in the film, and it's a sequence where all of the young actors who appear on the hit Fox TV series are sitting at school desks up on a stage, and some of the women cast members start talking about which one is the hottest of the cast. All of a sudden, Gweneth Paltrow comes out on stage, and begins to sing for the live audience that is attending the concert. She sings her number, and when she's done, Paltrow invites the audience to join her for tacos after the show. I was mystified, but I'm assuming you have to be a fan (or "gleeks" as they call themselves) to understand what this is a reference to.

I will admit up front, I have never seen the show. When you watch as many movies as I do, coming home and sitting in front of the TV doesn't sound like the best way to spend your time. So, I walked in completely cold to the Glee universe, which was probably not a good idea in retrospect. As the title suggests, the movie is a 3D concert film that chronicles part of a live tour the cast took part in where they performed in various large concert arenas as their characters from the show. Yes, the actors are on stage giving a music concert not as themselves, but as their characters. The movie itself is pretty much a celebration of the show, and what it means to the fans. We get some snippets of concert music, and snippets of documentary footage of different fans talking about how the show has changed their lives or made them better people.

Some of the fans they interview include a dwarf girl in high school who is inspired by Glee's message that it's okay to be different, and decides to try out for the cheerleader team, and even gets invited to the Prom by a hunky football player and becomes the Prom Queen. There's an openly gay young man who was afraid to come out about his lifestyle choice, until the show gave him the inspiration to do so. Finally, there's a girl who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a disease that makes it hard for her to function in social situations, who found a way to make friends with fellow fans of the show. These segments are rather nice and could be inspiring, if they didn't seem like an attempt to pad out the thin concert material.

As for the concert footage itself, it's rather mundane. The actors appear on stage as their characters from the show, and then sing a cover song. The songs at least stretch across a wide range of music, including early 80s (Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl"), more modern songs (Katy Perry's "Firework" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"), and even a Barbara Streisand and Beatles number sneak in there. The songs seem to be edited, as they're usually around two minutes long, sometimes less. I don't know if this is how they were performed at the concert, or if the film cuts the songs to keep the movie under 90 minutes. My problem is that there is no context or lead in to a lot of the music, unless we get some footage of fans saying who is the hottest character on the show, and then we get a short clip of said character singing their signature cover song on stage.

So yes, this movie is not for me. I had no previous knowledge of the characters or the show itself, didn't understand the context of the songs they were singing, and did not feel moved by the film's overall "hooray for Glee" message. If you're a fan of the show, please ignore this cranky critic, and go see it. You'll have a blast, I'm sure. I guess this is yet another pop culture fad that I'm not meant to understand.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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