REVIEW: Backstreet Boys: Show 'Em What You're Made Of

Starring: Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson.

Director: Stephen Kijak.

Released: February 26 (UK & Ireland - see below for more) 

IN 1995, fickle teenage hearts shattered and support helplines went into meltdown when Robbie Williams announced his departure from chart-topping boy band Take That.

Out of the pop gloom came five-strong American vocal group Backstreet Boys.

Formed in Orlando in 1993, the good-looking quintet of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Kevin Richardson turned shattered dreams into deafening screams as they stormed Europe with their self-titled debut album and the singles We've Got It Goin' On and I'll Never Break Your Heart.

Success in America followed soon after, where rivals NSYNC, led by a fresh-faced Justin Timberlake, failed to usurp the Backstreet crew's music thrones.

Carter, Dorough, Littrell, McLean and Richardson collectively became one of the biggest boy bands in history with more than 130 million album sales plus numerous awards and several Grammy nominations.

In 2012, the original line-up reunited for the first time in six years in the media spotlight to announce a 20th anniversary relaunch and a new studio album.

Documentary filmmaker Stephen Kijak, director of Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, was granted exclusive access to the band during this emotional period, following the five members as they addressed old tensions, reappraised lifelong friendships and took stock of everything they had achieved together.

His film Backstreet Boys: Show 'Em What You're Made Of is a portrait of tainted celebrity that falls somewhere between a traditional anodyne pop promo and a revealing warts 'n' all expose.

Carter, Dorough, Littrell, McLean and Richardson appear to lay themselves emotionally bare in front of the camera, reliving betrayals and ambitions that ultimately tore them apart.

There are moving sequences of the men returning to childhood homes and the film touches upon their relationship with their svengali Lou Pearlman, McLean's drug and alcohol addiction as well as Littrell's health - he famously delayed open-heart surgery to go on tour with the band.

For all of the tear-stained cheeks and flashbacks to happier days, there's no escaping the fact that this is an advertisement for the band.

They produced the film so director Kijak is duty-bound to intercut the soul-searching and remembrance with footage of a comeback concert in Toronto, lingering on a sell-out crowd of now grown-up Backstreet fans lost to the heady whiff of nostalgia.

"What do you do when you're a full-grown man in a boy band?" McLean wonders aloud at one point.

You promote yourselves with an entertaining film like this.

Following nationwide gala screenings on February 26, there will be a special performance from the band, live on stage at the Dominion Theatre in London, which will be broadcast via satellite to hundreds of cinemas across the UK and Ireland.

Backstreet's back and that's all right.

6/10

Damon Smith 

*The film will be released in cinemas in Basingstoke on Thursday, February 26 with a special performance by the band live via satellite. Find out more online at odeon.co.uk and myvue.com.