Review: JUSTIN BIEBER - NEVER SAY NEVER - Drama-less Exploitation, Bieber-Machine Fuel
rating: 2
Hes the second most followed person on the planet via Twitter (topped only by Lady Gaga); a 16 year old who has followed in the steps of Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers, taking the world by storm with his poppy songs and unmistakable fringe. So it stands to reason why Justin Bieber should have his own movie. And in 3D! However, unlike the previous two, he has not come off the Disney conveyor belt; he is a Youtube sensation from a humble background, and this is what the film is really about according to the producers. Of course it is. Never Say Never charts Biebers journey to fame, with interviews from family and friends, managers, fellow performers and adoring masses of teenage girls who express an undying, borderline scary devotion to 'The Bieb'. These are interspersed with archive footage of his upbringing and early days of performing and 3D filmed footage from his massive tour of America in 2009, which culminated with a performance at Madison Square Garden. From a modest upbringing in tiny Stratford, Canada, raised by his single teenage mother and her doting parents, Justins musical talent was apparent from a very young age; whether banging on a friends drum set or strumming on a guitar he had it. After finishing runner up at a local talent show, where he performed everything from rap to rock to pop, he posted a video of himself on Youtube which was spotted by an independent record producer who promptly got Justin over the border and into the USA and onto the airways of every Radio Station and any stage that would take a teenage pop prodigy. In essence this is the story of how Justin Bieber became The Biebernator! The Major failing of Never Say Never is the lack of any real drama. While Bieber comes from a small town in Canada and is the son of a single, teenage mother, his upbringing was normal; he was blessed with two wonderful grandparents who took him and his mother in and raised them in a loving home. Even his meteoric rise to fame is made look simpler than falling asleep after watching five minutes of a Doctor Who episode. Turned down by every studio, forced to go and play on every radio show and still the success didnt come. But then, finally, after years and years of struggle, Justin Bieber gains world wide acclaim at the age of fifteen. He never even gets the chance to say never. Never!
There is a moment of drama before his big show in Madison Square Garden will his voice be all right for the night? But any real fan will know that it was fine because he did the performance over a year ago and with great success. There is no journey, there is no struggle, therefore the payoff is not deserved and its hard to feel anything for the teen sensation. While the director and filmmakers profess that the real point of this film is to tell a remarkable from rags to riches story and highlight the way in which social media has revolutionised the entertainment industry, the fact is this is little more than an exploitation picture designed to attract further attention to the teen sensation and make more money for the Bieber-machine while its wheels are in full flow. And based on the thirty-plus million this raked in on its opening weekend in the U.S. job well done. 
If youre a Bieber fan then the entertainment value of this film will easily justify the entrance fee; you get to see lots of candid footage of JB backstage and hanging with his family and friends, plus see him perform all of his favourites (apparently) with big names including Miley Cyrus, Ludacris, Sean Kingston and his boy Usher alongside him. And all in glorious 3D, which I must admit to being very impressed by. It might not be the real live experience, but it certainly did suck me into a far more genuine live show atmosphere than I had thought was possible in a cinema. If you are not under the influence of Bieber-itis as I am not then this will be a tortuous one-hundred and five minutes that you will never get back. And even worse, you might just walk out of the film humming a Bieber tune or two. It wasnt that I found the music good, but I needed some kind of mantra to get me through this arduous affair Baby, baby, baby ooh was my mantra of choice and now I cant get it out of my head. You have been warned. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is released in the U.K. today.