One Direction: This Is Us

i could write a a book on the events and struggles that lead to my angel Zayn leaving the band

Never been so embarrassed to have seen a movie before.

You won't really enjoy it if you don't like One Direction (I don't hate them but I never listened to their music before this film) but I found Spurlock made the film at least somewhat interesting - the way he cuts across the interviews, peppers it with fun, Monkees-type moments and the concert footage itself is shot remarkably well. Of course this isn't as in-depth an expose as it would seem - every moment here has been engineered to please fans, and it certainly does. Scorsese cameo, too!

And as winsome as these five "normal" guys are here, the worldview that's being peddled is one that parents might want to think more than once about before inviting their kids to take it home. Because just as we've seen with Justin and Miley, the direction these affable young stars are heading may not be the path you want your family to travel. (pluggedin.com)

It's not a documentary so much as a carefully managed feature-length promotional video for the band. I'm obviously not the target audience for this, but I found it to be a fairly entertaining piece of pop fluff. I ended up liking the guys a lot; they all seem to accept that this is their 15mins of fame and it isn't going to last. Compared to the Bieber's of the industry, they come across as grounded decent guys enjoying their fame without ever letting ego or self-entitlement get in the way.

They're nice boys :)

This is a pretty weak imitation of the Justin Bieber film of a few years ago. It's a well produced film, no doubt - some segments really pop, and it's never really boring. The problem is that One Direction are just so average. I never got that "wow" moment where I felt like the 5 guys were really talented. Also, it's telling when the most memorable song performed in the film is a Wheatus cover.

awesome 10 out of 10

The guys' enthusiasm is infectious and the songs are catchy ("you don't know you're beautiful!"). As teen-pop-doc goes, this isn't half bad. Spurlock's direction is fine, if only rarely more, and some sequences work very well: the guys dressing up as stadium janitors and elderly nutjobs, and fooling fans in the process; and the touching moments when their mothers lament their children not being able to see them very often anymore. It must be tough. More about the fame than the music; that's OK.