'N Sync in concert.

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: 'N Sync Director: (None) Rated: Unrated, but of G or PG quality Length: 49 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(June 15, 2001) -- So you love 'N Sync? Check out 'N Sync: Bigger Than Live. You'll love it.

Your affection for this very popular group of harmonizing boy toys will be all you'll need, especially if you couldn't make Sunday's Buffalo gig.

After all, this is a 49-minute concert film, nothing more and nothing less. Fans will love seeing the quintet projected onto a giant screen, performing nine songs culled from three stops on their 2000 "No Strings Attached" concert tour.

Their singing and dancing are not what make this a mediocre film (more on that in the nonfan section of the review, below).

Certainly, more than enough 'N Sync fans are out there to justify the movie's existence. And the film gives the typically female and adolescent fans what they want -- with Lance Bass, Joshua "JC" Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Justin Timberlake projected onto a screen six stories high.

And they're performing some of their most popular material -- Tearing Up My Heart, This I Promise You and Bye Bye Bye.

But Bigger Than Live does nothing to explain the phenomenon or expand interest in them. It preaches to the converted.

Like nearly every concert film before it, Bigger Than Live opens with a prelude as roadies set up the giant stage. Then 'N Sync hits the stage and launches into a series of elaborately choreographed numbers, with frequent costume changes and lots of stage glitter.

The swirling dance routines are full of energy, but don't seem too far removed from the days of the Jackson Five. So, for this nonfan, the highlight is I Thought She Knew, a ballad sung a cappella. The quintet's tight harmonies were impressive without distracting production elements.

Now, for you nonfans: If you're among those who think `N Sync is where you put the dirty dishes, Bigger Than Live has little to offer.

I foolishly hoped the Imax film would offer something beyond the music and dance. It doesn't.

As a film, Bigger Than Live suffers from a stage that's not designed for movie-making. With its low, horizontal design, the spread-out quintet is seldom together in any one shot.

More distracting is the concert set's giant TV screen -- obviously an essential for the folks in the stadium's back rows.

For film audiences, though, the screen is too close, just behind the performers and not high enough off the ground. It's seen in straight-ahead shots and clutters the giant Imax image.

Despite a noted and experienced director of photography (John Bailey, of Ordinary People and Accidental Tourist), the camera angles are often claustrophobic or cumbersome. I suspect the idea of filming these performances was an afterthought.

By comparison, Imax cameras were artfully choreographed into the action in the other major large-format, all-concert film, 1991's The Rolling Stones -- At the Max.

It was a far more successful enterprise. But then, I'm more in sync with the Rolling Stones.