Just Five Lads Having the Time of Their Lives

Uh oh. I think I’m a bit of a Directioner.

Yikes.

I don’t know why I fight this sort of thing anymore: I should just make peace with the fact that I am a pop consumer and that that the boy bands of Earth, being the enjoyable confection that they are, always will be something I’ll gravitate toward rather happily.

Like a yummy five-layer chocolate cake.

After all, I was quite fond of the New Kids on the Block (there may be an NKOTB Trapper Keeper with my name on it somewhere out there); I really, really hearted the Backstreet Boys; and I cared quite a bit for N’SYNC (and 98 Degrees and Five and even Take That in spite of the fact that whatever they said, whatever the did, they didn’t mean it).

So it should come as no surprise that, yes, I do like One Direction (and The Wanted, especially that hot cake Max George).

Now, I do not own any of 1D’s songs – yet! – but watching their Morgan Spurlock-directed alllimited-access 3-D doc This Is Us today I totally danced around in my seat with them (thank goodness for a near-empty 3:15 showing at a theater in Lima). The movie is a chronicle of the quintet’s meteoric rise to absolutely world domination and an insight into the lads’ non-stop lives as seen through the prism of their humongous “Take Me Home Tour.”

Up until this point here’s how I described the massively successful boy band (like, true story, this is how I recently described One Direction to a pal on Facebook): Louis [Tomlinson] is the cutest. Liam [Payne]'s the hottest. Harry [Styles] is the most famous. Niall [Horan]’s the blondest. And Z[ayn Malik] is the skinny one.

After watching This Is Us, though, I can honestly and shamelessly say that I – a guy who is totally not in their demo – feel like I know these kids just a wee bit better, and that I believe I can and should call them stars, if not artists.

For one, they are workhorses. And for two, there is something to be said about kismet existing in this crazy world of ours, for all five guys came in as individuals on British X Factor and, thanks to Simon Cowell’s commercial foresight, emerged a cohesive unit that counts Martin Scorsese and Chris Rock as audience members at their sold-out arena shows. You cannot deny this whole thing was meant to be, and you gotta respect these young men, barely out of their teens, for making it work.

This Is Us does nothing to spotlight on these guy’s psyches, good, bad, and ugly. It’s all mostly good – but at least Spurlock hints at wanting to pull the veil toward the end. The doc was shot through the summer announcement of another world tour (the one 1D will embark on in 2014), and although trouble isn’t spelled, anyone who follows pop culture they way I do could infer that the One Direction life may be taking a real toll on at least one of its members: Malik.

There was a report earlier this summer that the 20-year-old had lost a significant amount of weight due to the rigors of the band’s schedule. I can see that: it clearly has been a whirlwind since 1D hit it big two years ago, and, perhaps, with his passing shots of the boys participating in a couple of activities sans Malik, Spurlock’s telegraphing that, yes, there would be something to explore in a sequel.

For sure, This Is Us can be as a revealing as a disingenuous press release, with nary any substantial love-life talk, but it is fascinating nevertheless (so don’t go into it hoping to get any dish on former Styles paramour Taylor Swift). 

Since these guys seemingly like to against the boy band grain with their unchoreographed moves and unmatched-matchy outfits, it just woulda been cooler for them – or the machine behind them – to be just a little less unforthcoming.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Sony Pictures.