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Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
| Released |
19 August 2011 |
| Director |
Kevin Tancharoen |
Starring
|
Amber Riley, Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, Dianna Agron, Gwyneth Paltrow |
| Producer(s) |
Dante Di Loreto, Ryan Murphy |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
84 minutes |
| Genre |
Music, concert |
| Rating |
PG |
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Gleeful.
The title Glee: The 3D Concert Movie is a little misleading. The Glee club singers are all present and correct and technically there’s some 3D in there somewhere but a movie it most certainly is not. Comprising of concert footage, backstage segments and fan interviews, it stays close to the concert movie template set by other teen sensations Justin Bieber and Hannah Montana- like watching a tour DVD with built in extras. In extending the brand of an award-winning show though, Glee at least tries to push the envelope of what is a pretty uninteresting structure in a couple of ways.
First, the backstage interviews with the cast are conducted in character- a nice idea that works quite well. Second are the heartfelt testimonials from three Glee fans that are scattered amongst the songs. Glee has pretensions of being a cultural force- promoting diversity, acceptance and confidence in its huge following of “Gleeks.” While I don’t think they should be handing out the Peace Prize to Glee’s writers quite yet, it is hard to be cynical about the three young people we meet here.
As for the music; you probably already know your tolerance level for Glee’s appropriation of pop’s greatest hits already. Personally I thought that, not withstanding the uncomfortably raunchy cover of Britney’s 'I’m a Slave 4 U', it was all good clean fun. The cast are all tremendously enthusiastic and their varying levels of talent are rewarded accordingly; the polished musical theatre stylings of Lea Michelle as Rachel notches up the most solos, closely followed by powerhouse Amber Riley (playing Mercedes) and cherubic Chris Colfer (Kurt). I could have done with a lot less of Kevin McHale, whose turn as the wheelchair-bound Artie can be grating thanks to his penchant for bad rapping.
All in all, it’s a harmless eighty minutes that will entertain the fans who missed seeing the tour in the flesh. It’s just a pity that rather than having a cameo appearance from Jane Lynch as Sue Silvester we have to put up with one from Gwyneth Paltrow and her sugary rendition of Cee Lo’s 'Forget You'. One can only hope she doesn’t plan on adding “pop-star” to her CV alongside actress and insufferable lifestyle guru.
- Linda O’Brien |
