Directed By Anthony Mandler and Simon Hammerstein

Starring – Usher Raymond

The Plot – A concert film incorporating the essence of his landmark cultural phenomenon Vegas residencies into a seductive French touch confession. Captured during Paris Fashion week at La Seine Musicale, the film features chart-topping hits including “Yeah!”, “My Boo”, “Love In This Club” and more from USHER’s 30-year career, performed with never-before-seen costumes and state-of-the-art lighting and special effects. In addition to bringing the vibrant live concert experience to screen, USHER gives audiences a glimpse inside life beyond the stage – creating a global movie moment that U won’t want to miss.

This film is currently not rated

USHER: RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS – Official Trailer (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

For everything that ‘Rendezvous’ lacks in the scope and scale of ‘Taylor Swift: The Era’s Tour’ or ‘Renaissance by Beyonce’, it makes up for in the pageantry of its spectacle, which immerses fans into a one of a kind experience with one of the world’s greatest entertainers. For those who refuse to pay an inflated concert ticket, the 85-minute film impresses with its barrage of costume changes, exotic lighting schemes, fan interactions, and of course extravagant dance moves that proves even at the tender age of 45, the man has quite literally never lost a step, moving as smoothly and feverishly as his nearly thirty year career has spanned. On top of this, the presentation of these IMAX cameras in and around the Paris setting gives it an immaculate look that is second to none, in terms of crisply sheer textures, and even though this quality in appeal would be enough to make the experience something special, Mandler and Hammerstein command the occasion with exaggerated edits and intense velocity of the camera movements to weave us in and out of the gigantic stage show, gifting us not only an inaccessible intimacy with Usher that any of his screaming lady fans would sell their souls for, but also an awestruck wonderment of the stages assembled for such an occasion, which give the litany of dancers an opportunistic impulse with the backdrops that always feel tangibly prominent in a show that goes quite literally everywhere. In a narrative-driven movie, this would obviously feel distracting to storytelling, but in terms of a concert it properly triggers those exhilarating feelings emotionally in visual form, which play reflecting poetic with contrasting beats of the many song tempos. In terms of fandom, the hardcore Usher fanatics will appreciate a 28-song setlist that spans the entirety of his career, with a carefully chosen randomness that keeps it from feeling as predictable as those aforementioned concert films, but beyond that a suave sensitivity in sexuality that permeates effortlessly from a man who breeds confidence and command inside of this superstar persona. For my auditorium, ‘Yeah’, ‘Nice and Slow’, and ‘In this Club’ were definitely the real house pleasers, and while the crowds are essentially always more relaxed with concert films, the kind for this occasion created a party atmosphere that grew louder and more comfortable with each passing track, inscribing an element of inclusivity for even soft fans of Usher’s, like me, who sometimes feel overwhelmed by such an unfamiliar experience. While I only consider myself a surface level Usher fan, I can say that there were so many hits of his from the 90’s that I legitimately forgot about, and through the delve of exploring them in non-sequential order, gave me an appreciation for the man that only grew bigger with each instrumental reminder, allowing audiences ample time to contextualize just how much his music has grown and evolved with adulthood. On top of this, it was the moments between tracks that were the most rewarding for me personally, where Usher took time to interact with audiences to show his palpable gratuity for such a lifetime of experiences. As to where this lack of accessibility personally to the artist is something that unfortunately plagued me greatly in the film, the sporadic instances here provided a rare humbling humanity to the stage persona that I dearly wanted more of, especially with a legion of passionate fans who undoubtedly cleaned out their bank accounts to see the man perform. Lastly, the pacing definitely has problems, but I think the 85-minute run time is appropriate for the repetition of the feature, especially in a four-part divided structure that starts to overstay its welcome at the exact moment the film introduces its final two performances. Despite my interest waning by film’s end, I can say that I commend the production for keeping it the length of a typical feature length film, which with the medley-style structure of the setlist, quite literally makes fans feel like time is floating by without warning.

NEGATIVES

As previously mentioned, there’s a lack of accessibility to Usher Raymond the person in the film that I wish was explored as vividly and revealing as those in ‘Renaissance’, especially within a show that feels as monumentally decadent as this one did. Privacy has always been something that Usher has maintained, but that’s ultimately what a film experience should rightfully grant audiences, especially considering the film cuts away from the stage for these periodic promos that feel like cologne commercials to the worst degree. Between overhead sexy narration read by Usher himself, and forced sexuality in the sequencing that screamed pretentiousness, these momentary pauses were a dramatic waste of time to the integrity of the engagement, and even if Usher didn’t want to peel the curtain back to give audiences accessibility to the man preparing for a show, then he should’ve cut these sequences all together, as audibly they don’t correspond to anything within the show, and creatively outlines USHER MEANS SEXINESS behind every exploit. In addition to disappointing cutaways, the decision to have Usher singing over a played track is one that doesn’t paint the artist in the most gifted of lights, especially since he so frequently asks the audience to sing, or just downright ignores that the track is playing. To be fair, most artists use accommodating vocals for live performances, but not until this film does it feel overtly egregious, resulting in a lack of effort to the corresponding instrumentals that would disappoint me as someone who would pay big money to see him live, and possibly even worse for somebody in a theater who is already confined by the medley style structure of the setlist. Surely, there’s nothing wrong with having fun with a song that you’ve performed literally thousands of times, but for a feature film that is bringing new fans to your brand, I probably would’ve used better footage to show him off, especially during certain shots that quite literally have him staring at the crowd while the song’s lyrics play. Finally, I was a bit disappointed that none of the featured artists on Usher’s songs came for the performance, particularly Ludacris and Lil Jon, during ‘Yeah’, which underwhelmed the atmosphere, even with dancers quite literally working their asses off. Not to compare this once more to those 2023 predecessors, but this is something that Taylor Swift and Beyonce pulled off with their respective films, with appearances from Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar, respectively, so here it just feels like a gigantic missed opportunity to not have even one of the many iconic artists help influence Usher’s concert, leaving no surprises in the entirety of an engagement that was already bogged down by repetition to its structure.

OVERALL
‘Usher: Rendezvous in Paris’ is purely for hardcore fanatics of the R&B crooner, who will undoubtedly flock by the dozens to bask in the glow of his radiant sex appeal and suave dance moves, that are second to no one. While the film is nothing special for concert movies of the current age, in terms of its lack of curtain-pulling accessibility to the man behind the artist, or deviating between performances and pretentious sequences of Usher walking the streets of Paris, the pageantry of the spectacle ultimately wins out in the end, cementing a career celebration spanning nearly 30 years that will continue onward, with or without a by-the-numbers puff piece of a concert film that constantly swims at surface level.

My Grade: 6/10 or C+