Date sent: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:01:56 -0400 From: "Mike N. Reinemann" Subject: Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story July 18, 2001 TV GUIDE ONLINE Todays's TV Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story (9 pm/ET, VH1) DEF JAM You don't have to know anything about Def Leppard to see where this made-for-VH1 movie is headed. Anyone familiar with Behind the Music will recognize the formula: A band struggles, achieves fame, falls prey to the trappings of that fame, then emerges triumphant and wiser. The only thing surprising about this predictable story is that the filmmakers somehow make it work. Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story chronicles the rise, fall and rise of one of the '80s most popular bands. It succeeds because of the actors' remarkable physical resemblance to the real Def Leppard and strong performances by Karl Geary (Steve Clark), Tat Whalley (Rick Allen), Orlando Seale (Joe Elliott), Adam MacDonald (Rick Savage), Nick Bagnall (Pete Willis) and Esteban Powell (Phil Collen). Although musicians in the audience will notice that the actors are not playing their own instruments, the cast is adept enough at faking it to keep it from becoming a distraction. The soundtrack is a collection of original Def Leppard music and boasts such hits as "Photograph," "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," "Hello America" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me." The film unfolds at a breakneck pace and tries to cover a lot of ground in two hours. For this reason, Hysteria oversimplifies band history and relies on clichés to move the story forward. For example, there's a scene in which second guitarist Collen joins the group and resident axe man Clark suffers a bout of acute self-doubt. When Clark storms out of a recording session in frustration, Collen catches up with him on the street and resolves the situation with a 30-second "We can do it together" speech. The other members of the band — Elliot, Allen and Clark — also join the group with relative ease: Each of them is hired following a 15-second audition culminating in a unanimous vote to invite the newcomer aboard. The movie compensates for these moments by humanizing the rock icons. Elliot is portrayed as an overly ambitious control freak who gets combative when he doesn't get his way; Collen is depicted as a booze- guzzling prankster; bass player Savage comes off as a laid-back musical yeoman; and producer Mutt Lange is represented as a detached and demanding perfectionist by a virtually unrecognizable Anthony Michael Hall. But Clark is the film's most fascinating character. His debilitating alcoholism is presented as an outgrowth of his extreme lack of confidence and desperately low self-esteem. The fact that it persists while millions of fans worship him makes it all the more intriguing. After reading the glowing reviews of the wildly successful Pyromania, Clarks tells the band he would understand if they fired him because of his sloppy fingering. Unfortunately, the film ends several years before Clark's death and his story doesn't have the chance to play out completely. The same could be said of the band as a whole. To guarantee a happy ending, the movie does not cover their long, slow decline in the '90s, when the arena-rock staple degenerated into a novelty pop-metal act. But even if the triumphant conclusion of Hysteria doesn't satisfy viewers familiar with the real Def Leppard, those same audience members will probably be drawn in by the backstory. We're privvy to Clark's first encounter with his model-wife, Elliot's audition for the band and Allen's courageous attempts to play the drums after losing an arm. These scenes are all first-rate, ultimately making this TV-movie as compelling as it is flawed. - David Tagnani Photo Credits: Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story by Pierre Dury/VH1