Chasing Happiness
[Devin Dayley]
Year Released: 2019
Director: John Taylor
Stars:
Nick Jonas
Joe Jonas
Kevin Jonas
Synopsis:
This documentary chronicles the tale of the Jonas Brothers rise to fame, their decent and their breakup, then their recommitment to each other as brothers. The film concludes with their decision to “get back together” and the release of “Sucker,” their first single in six years.
Review:
I have to admit, I was never a real Jonas Brothers’ fan in the past. I was old enough to be “too cool” for Disney-discovered bands, but young enough to still be a youth and know who they were as well as some of their songs. Even though I was not a direct fan, I did know some information about them and used that information to form opinions on them. So, watching “Chasing Happiness” was enlightening to see what opinions and judgements of mine were right and which were wrong.
Overall, I liked the movie. I like all the documentaries about famous people. You’ve got the one about Katy Perry, the one, or two, about Justin Bieber, the one about One Direction, etc. Yeah. It humanizes them more for me and makes them more relatable, which I suppose is their point. So, well done to whoever thought up this genre!
This documentary feels more real, though. I think it comes from the fact that the Jonas family was so centered around their religion as well as the film being so family-centric. This resonated with me a lot because that is how I am and how my family is. All of our lives are somewhat linked together and everything seems to lead us back to each other. This is one aspect that the documentary did really well- the incorporation of family being something that is irreplaceable and so important.
Something that I really loved about the film, speaking of family, is that it had the brothers talking about aspects of each other’s lives. Because they are family and grew up in the same house, they were able to do this. For instance, Joe was able to talk about Kevin’s life; and it was accurate because he was there so he knows what happened. I loved this because it gave a sense of familiarity to the film and helped you feel like each of them were watching each other and caring about each other.
One of my absolute favorite parts of the documentary was how honest it was. I loved being able to see Kevin admitting that he was left out. That was one of the jugements I had made years in the past. I was like- oh, well obviously Kevin is the one that is left out. He didn’t have crazy amounts of talent, he didn’t have crazy good looks, he is not, and was never, the center of the band at all. So, I appreciated them acknowledging the fact that I was right.
I understand, and can empathize with him because I AM KEVIN! Well the Kevin of my family- the Kevin of the Dayley family. Ha, get it- Devin-Kevin. Let me explain... When I was young, and to this day, I am more of the type that gets “left by the wayside” because I am not a huge fan of having attention on me. I have a little brother (like Kevin has Joe and Nick) who has always looked for attention and I usually have no problem with pointing the spotlight at him. The problem for me, and probably for Kevin, is that we give up so much attention and so much of the spotlight that we don’t get recognized or get the attention that we rightfully deserve.
Also, the fact that it was so honest makes them seem more like humans that are imperfect, make mistakes, and are growing and changing, much like the rest of us. I think that most people (ME) have a tendency to think of celebrities as somewhat of god-like creatures. That they are not learning and making mistakes as they go through life. We think that they must know something we don’t and that knowledge they have is what got them famous and what allows them to navigate through this world as effortlessly as they seem to. So the honesty of Kevin saying he was left out or just the emphasis the brothers put on how hard it was and is, I appreciated that. That is one thing I love about these celebrity documentaries, they show that being a celebrity is not all it is talked up to be. I have heard the same speech about life being hard for EVERYONE so many times but I never truly believe it. I am like- oh, those celebrities need to stop bitchin’, they don’t know how easy they have it compared to the rest of the world. Maybe they don’t, though. Maybe I should stop aspiring to fame and fortune.
Psh. I won’t. :P . That was a sobering thought, though.
One criticism I would have for the film is that it didn’t seem like the brothers were being totally transparent with each other. Maybe I’m reading too far into things but it seemed like they were erring some of their grievances but keeping others bottled up or maybe holding grudges. I don’t know, that’s just how it seemed to me.
I liked this documentary and would definitely recommend it. I would rate it an 8.4/10- a high rating for a documentary about people I don’t love.
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