One Direction: This is Us

This Is Us does what it needs to do for its target audience. But anyone looking for actual substance or insight will be disappointed and maybe even a little bored with its repetitive nature.

The fact is that they are as criminally cute as a basketful of puppies. This Is Us manages to frame that boyish appeal astutely ...

It might not make you a fan of One Direction, but it will certainly make you understand the group, which is the job of any good documentary.

The film is a successful witness to the great charm possessed by all five members of One Direction.

"One Direction: This Is Us" leaves the larger questions it points toward teasingly unexplored, making the film little more than a harmless keepsake.

With a group so evidently versed in the visuals of rock history, it's a shame that a filmmaker wasn't hired who would pay homage to classic pop films instead of offering a satisfactory paid promotional.

I feel as if I learned very little from One Direction: This is Us, a movie that is more of a consumer product or an event than an actual feature film.

It's hard not to get caught up in the band's infectious enthusiasm for life and drive to make hay while the sun shines.

The boys are very likable, but the film around them is still very repetitive.

About as journalistically useful as a promoted tweet.

Even Niall's schtick of whipping up or quieting down a mass of waiting fans seems the most innocuous metaphor imaginable for the manipulation that, unexamined here, lies at the hollow heart of all this manufactured stardom and its manufactured followers.

What's super-odd about this film is its director, Morgan Spurlock. Best-known as an activist documentarian...it's a bit of a shock to see his controversy-magnet name attached to something so tame, formulaic and corporate.