There’ll be plenty of time for trashing hotel rooms down the road.
A Neverland Ranch seems decades away. He’ll be botching somebody’s
national anthem soon enough.
So for now, don’t fight the fever, and don’t hate on those who have it.
Justin Bieber, the first Youtube-created pop superstar, belongs to those
who discovered him long before his “team” discovered him, worked him,
promoted him and packaged him for “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” a 3D
concert film that serves up the boy/the myth.
But 3D or not, the film about the mop-topped Canadian — who turns 17
March 1 — doesn’t let us get very close to “the talent.” We get an hour
and forty-five minutes of movie that runs through most of his hit songs
“(Baby” “One Less Lonely Girl”) as performed on an 86 city concert tour.
We’re served snippets of home movies that chronicle his meteoric rise, a
mocking moment of hair-flipping, a few shirt-changing scenes guaranteed
to make girls squeal. And there’s not even a full minute of sound bites
with just Justin Bieber talking. That’s how you protect an image.
Miley Cyrus shares the stage with him for a song, p*****ing the
teeny-bopper baton. Bieber sings with his idols, Boys II Men. More
cynically, Jaden Smith comes on for a song, pimped into the limelight by
parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
It’s all good, clean fun, these ten year-old fans declaring that they
plan to marry him, older women wanting to baby him (his baby pictures
are a fixture on projection screens at his shows). For those without
teen-tween girls, here’s his story – laid out in interviews with his
manager, his vocal coach – mentors all, the most famous being the singer
Usher and super-producer L.A. Reid.
Bieber’s devoutly Christian mom, Pattie Malette, who had him in tiny
Stratford, Ontario when she was 18? Limited screen time, not a lot of
talking. She’s stuck her foot in it a few times, so no sense letting her
get off message. His dad, who left mom when he was 10 months old? A few
tears, even fewer words.
Choreographer-director (“Step Up 3D”) Jon Chu’s film, photographed by
Reed Smoot, who has large format (IMAX) documentaries (“Wild Oceans 3D”)
on his resume, may do little with the 3D. But the movie captures some of
Bieber’s inherent playfulness and goes to some pains to paint him as
“normal,” even when that voice coach, “Mama” Jan Smith, informs him
“This is your normal, now.” His teen boy bonafides are established by
putting him on the basketball court with childhood pals.
And the talent is obvious, even in those earliest videos, busking for
spare change outside the Avon Theater, uncertain of pitch but covering
soul and R & B tunes with conviction, confidence and p*****ion.
But will we ever see the “real” Justin Bieber, up close and personal?
“Never say never,” kids, but that won’t come until this fever subsides.
“Never Say Never” is about as revealing as a Canadian snowmobile suit.
See for Yourself “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never”
Cast: Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Usher Raymond, Boys II Men, Snoop
Dogg, Jaden Smith
Director: Jon chu
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Rating: G
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