Justin Bieber: Our World
October 8th, 2021
MOVIE: JUSTIN BIEBER: OUR WORLD
STARRING: JUSTIN BIEBER, HALEY BALDWIN-BIEBER
DIRECTED BY: MICHAEL D. RATNER
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS (Out of 4)
In a year that’s filled to the brim with music documentaries and concert flicks, it’s hard to gauge what’s worth the audiences time anymore. If you love all things Justin Bieber, then of course Justin Bieber: Our World will be a movie you want to see. If you are a relatively fresh listener to the pop-star’s brand of music, it will also be a good introduction to the greatest hits collection, leaving out the bad tracks you would skip through anyway. And if you are neither of those two things, someone who has no opinion about Bieber, and won’t be affected by his music, you will glean very little from Justin Bieber: Our World. The documentary takes place New Year’s Eve 2020, where Bieber was inspired to live-stream and perform live for the lucky and wealthy few at the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel, while Covid was still raging on. The documentary gives audiences a brief behind the scenes look at what it took to make the show happen, but very little information about Bieber himself, where the performance is good, but a more personal documentary could have been delivered.
That’s not to say I hated Our World, where I periodically waved back and forth between a 2 and a 2.5 star review, but the ultimate result was not enough to rave about. Bieber is incredibly talented. He’s an artist that I have grown to appreciate, where his writing feels inspired by his growth as a person, and his dancing proves he still has the skills. His string of recent hits, including “Intentions”, “Yummy”, “Hold On”, and “Anyone” are all songs that play in my head repeatedly, so yes, his music is making an impact on me. The behind the scenes look at the relationship of Bieber and his wife Hailey Baldwin Bieber is less personal and just montages of their sweet moments together. It’s nice to see their relationship thriving from afar, but Our World barely tries to dig into anything of context to try and get deeper.
The director of Our World is Michael D. Ratner, who is a producer with OBB Media, and is obviously in connection with mega agent Scooter Braun- a producer on this film. I mention these things, same as I did with J Balvin’s documentary The Boy from Medellin, because these documentaries have become glorified publicity stunts, with only the purpose of keeping the egos and careers of who he represents shiny clean. Our World keeps the personal side of Bieber brief, a smart move considering it is the performance of Bieber that will win audiences over to his work. The major problem with this however, unlike something such as David Byrne’s American Utopia, is that Bieber’s performance lacks the jet propulsion to stay fresh. If Bieber was aiming for what Beyonce did in Homecoming he lands way short of the warning track.
That’s not to say that Our World is a complete waste of time, especially for the big fans of Bieber who want to see the behind the scenes prep of his road manager, his dance crew, and the construction crews that build out the set. It’s all fascinating stuff to see what it takes- especially during the Covid protocols in place- to make the best show possible for an audience that will be on balconies of a hotel. Plus the music is good. When Bieber sits down with his guitarist to play “Off My Face” it’s obvious that the artist can give anyone listening goosebumps with his smooth voice and melodies.
Is Justin Bieber: Our World worth your time? I guess…? I will say this, if you put it on your TV in the background to listen to the music you will not be disappointed. If you are looking to learn anything more about Bieber other than his enormous talent, you need to look elsewhere. And yes, you could just put Bieber’s music on your Spotify account and you would achieve the same results, but you might miss out on a chance to see Bieber and Hailey cuddling in bed together as well…Okay maybe Spotify is the better way to go. The fact is that this is just Justin Bieber’s world and we are the lucky ones to have his music in Our World.
JUSTIN BIEBER: OUR WORLD IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON PRIME FRIDAY OCTOBER 8TH, 2021
2 STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
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