PGStarring: Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan
1Hour and 32 Minutes
This is the story/documentary/concert of five normal lads having the time of their lives! This story truly is a phenomenon.
These four young men from England and one of them from Ireland ranging in ages 18-20 never even knew each other. They each individually auditioned for "The X-Factor" in London in 2010. They were scoped out by (everything he touches turns to gold) Simon Cowell who brought the five of them together to form the pop boy band sensation, "One Direction" and the rest is history, real history! They are even bigger than believe it or not, "The Beatles"!!! Their popularity is so enormous that they sell out wherever they perform and people (mostly teens and pre-teen females) stand in line for days! Just last Friday morning August 23rd, they performed live on "The Today Show" summer concert series and broke the record, they pulled in more people than "The Today Show" summer concert series ever has! People started camping out six days prior to their performance!
This tells their story of how they came from working class families to become the greatest band of all time. It shows video of them each as adorable young children and bits and pieces of their hometowns and families. It follows along with them as they tour different countries and the reaction of their "Directioners" (a name given to their die-hard fans) as they climb the ladder to super-stardom!
It was both interesting and fascinating to see just how amazing this journey has been for them. It was also fun to see how they interact with each other. They claim that they are all best friends and just how much they truly love and respect one another. They are all so young and free spirited, but it also shares some insight into their personal lives as well.
My favorite part is how they showed the human-side of each of them. The toll and the sacrifice it has taken on their families too!
When I went to screen this movie I really had the pre-conceived notion that this was going to be a "teeny-bopper" movie and I would probably be bored with it. I was not too familiar with the music so that wasn't a draw either. On the contrary, I really enjoyed it. It was very uplifting and just made me feel happy! I can honestly say that I am now "an older" "One Direction" fan, and I actually enjoy a lot of their music now too as well. I just really hope that these five young men will have the guidance and counsel that they need to keep them from the fame monster that seems to destroy so many of our young people today!!!
I would recommend this movie for children nine years and up. Parents be advised that there is some very mild potty humor and they run around shirtless at times.
I am giving "This Is Us" three bags of popcorn.
