It really couldn’t be much simpler. If you watch the TV show Glee, then you’ll find yourself (probably multiple times) in the theaters over the next two weeks, gaga for Glee: The 3D Concert Movie. If you don’t, well… what are you doing here?
The twenty-plus song lollapalooza was filmed during the cast’s June 16-17th concert at the Meadowlands and is a full-on assault of all things Glee. Each of the show’s stars (save the sorely missed Sue and Mr. Schue) gets his or her moment in the sun, belting out a song or two… or six. Artie (Kevin McHale) hops out of his chair for “The Safety Dance”, Finn (Cory Monteith) bops his way through “Jesse’s Girl”, Brittany (Heather Morris) lip-synchs her namesake’s “I’m a Slave 4 U”… you get the idea.
There are a few backstage moments, but since the actors never break character, it ends up feeling more like another episode of the TV show (though in a movie theater and in 3D, sure) instead of a concert documentary. The only non-concert moments of substance come in the form of tug-at-your-heartstrings vignettes of three self-proclaimed Gleeks who have found life-changing inspiration in some aspect of the show.
Gleeks the world over can say, “Sure, and what’s wrong with that?” but the filmmakers missed an opportunity to make a perfectly fine movie into something memorable. You only need to look as far back as February when Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never gave audiences a sense of history and relevance; it pulled back the curtain and showed us what drives the young Mr. Bieber and, in doing so, created a film that had a much deeper (well… relatively speaking) impact.
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie is an unadulterated 84-minute love letter to the show’s fans, from the opening shots of young boys and girls whooping it up outside the arena, to the swooping crane shots of fans inside the arena. (And, yes, there are a handful of adult fans showcased, too.) If you’re one of them, go for it; you’ll get exactly what you expect– nothing more, nothing less.
3/5 stars