Katy’s fans will love it, and that’s all that matters

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This article was published 05/07/2012 (5203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is irrelevant if this movie, part 3-D concert film, part behind-the-scenes reality show, gets much love from critics. The movie itself exists as its own celebratory rave review of Katy Perry, the singer, the artist, the prop comedian and yes, even in her brief incarnation as Mrs. Russell Brand.

The film starts in the template of last year’s Justin Bieber movie with a series of video testimonials from fans praising Katy’s ability to make themselves proud of who they are. (The logic runs thus: Katie Perry dresses weird. Therefore she makes it OK to be weird.) It’s a debatable point whether beautiful pop stars make kids more comfortable in their own skins. But you’re not going to find any challenges here.

A more compelling back story emerges: Perry’s upbringing as the daughter of evangelical pastors who prohibited her from listening to anything other than gospel music in her youth and went as far as to prohibit the consumption of Lucky Charms cereal, Katy’s younger brother David reports, because luck was “of the devil.”

Well that’s certainly interesting, especially considering Perry broke out of the record industry doldrums with the bi-curious anthem I Kissed a Girl (which gets a smoky lounge-y interpretation in this movie).

But the movie manages to steer clear of any religious debate too (although you can be assured Katy does assert her belief in God) as the film stays very much in the realm of the G-rated, no doubt because younger kids form the bulk of Perry’s fanbase.

More offensively, the treatment of Perry’s breakup with Brand is handled here as an exercise in reality-show manipulation, with various witnesses (such as Perry’s tour manager) weighing in on how the collapsing marriage is having an impact on Perry’s emotional state, culminating in a dressing-room breakdown in which Perry is seen sobbing right up to the moment where she makes her entrance.

If the personal stuff isn’t being treated frankly, one wishes the movie could have simply been a concert movie. In the past, musicians used to do concert movies with the understanding that the music spoke for them.

The contemporary concert movie a la Bieber, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and Katy Perry vibe more as pop star propaganda, hitting home the message that loving these people is a good investment of your time and money (Triumph of the Bieb), even if history shows their musical contributions will be, at best, ephemeral in the history of pop.

And hey, whatever happened to the Jonas Brothers anyway?

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Other voices

Selected excerpts from reviews of Katy Perry: Part of Me:

As artificial as much of the apparatus surrounding Perry may be, none of it works without her charisma at the centre. That comes through in Part of Me, as does her intense drive to succeed after early failures.

— Jake Coyle, Associated Press

You never get the sense that the camera was ever allowed to see anything that Perry didn’t want it to see.

— Karina Longworth, Village Voice

Perry may be the world’s most high-profile tease, but she sure knows how to show us a good time.

— Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

What is there of interest for non-Katy-Perry fans? Not a whole lot… Still, I was hardly bored.

— Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies

This frothy 3-D concert doc often plays like a Perry ad campaign, assuring viewers that their Teenage Dream diva is a good, fun-loving person, and that, by God, she’s doing fine.

— R. Kurt Osenlund, Slant magazine

Part Of Me often feels like the offspring of E! True Hollywood Story and an infomercial for Katy Perry Inc.

— Genevieve Koski, AV Club

The contrast between the cartoony, fantasy-loving stage image of songstress Katy Perry and the rigours of a relentless world tour give what could otherwise have been a puffy, throwaway pseudo-documentary some real grist.

— Jim Schembri, 3AW

The trudging devotion to formula would be more forgivable if Part of Me did a better job at capturing what’s ostensibly the point of the documentary: Katy Perry’s music.

— Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

The 3-D performance footage is impressively lavish, though the film’s unending idolization of the amiable singer will quickly exhaust all but the most devoted fans.

— Alison Willmore, Time Out New York

She dresses like an ice cream sundae but never offers more than a sample spoon into her life.

— Matt Pais, RedEye

This supposedly honest behind-the-scenes look at Perry’s 2011 world tour often feels more like sharp brand management. (Ex-husband pun slightly intended.)

— Mark Olsen, Boxoffice Magazine

Part Of Me deserves kudos for allowing an element of unpredictability to intrude upon its tween exploitation and sugary vulgarity.

— Neil Smith, Total Film

Compiled by Shane Minkin

Movie review

Katy Perry: Part of Me

Directed by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne

G

95 minutes

2 stars out of five