The Rocker (2008)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

I believe this was Rainn Wilson's first leading role in his own movie, the first time a movie revolved around his character. Unfortunately the movie isn't exactly an original concept, some might say it kinda rips-off the 2003 movie 'School of Rock' to a degree, maybe even touching on the Brit flick 'Still Crazy' here and there.The plot centres around the fictional drummer Robert Fishman (Wilson) of the heavy metal rock band Vesuvius. Back in the 80's this band are on the verge of hitting the big time with their heavy metal/glam rock songs and outrageous onstage antics. Alas the record company that wants to sign them sets an ultimatum, they must drop their drummer Fishman...and replace him with the record companies nephew. Eventually the band agree and Fishman is out. We follow Fishman years down the line, his life has crumbled, he loses his job, his girlfriend and he is forced to move in with his sister. But it is here, with his sisters family, he finds a lifeline in his nephews high school rock band.So yes, it is very much like 'School of Rock', the main difference of course being this is based around teenagers instead of young kids. Does that make the film any better? well sort of I guess, its not exactly a riveting tale of originality as said. Bottom line the film survives purely because of Wilson and his goofiness along with his non- Hollywood looks. This is Rainn's appeal, the guy is not good looking, he is not fit or ripped in any way and he's not a ladies man type. This guy is just a regular looking bloke, the kind of guy you would actually find serving you in a retail park electronics store. Its this that makes Wilson likable as the everyman up against it, he uses his, dare I say, pug-ugly looks and out of shape physique to great effect. Indeed in this film we see his flabby toneless torso quite often, and its admittedly amusing, it works (I especially liked the brief moment at the start where he hurls his sweat soaked vest into the crowd, and it slaps some poor fan across the face).The rest of the cast are made up of stereotypical teens that fit the stereotypical mould. You have the good looking male lead singer that has all the girls swooning over him, yet he's somehow not fulfilled. The fat, curly haired, awkward kid who doesn't really fit in, but towards the end totally gets into it and snatches a hot girl way out of his league. And finally you have Emma Stone who obviously plays the cute female band member who secretly has the hots for the good looking male lead singer (guess what happens in the end). The supposedly funny bit is the fact they hire Fishman as their drummer, a man in his forties who thinks he's still a young rocker and likes to live the dream, real life responsibilities aside. Oh and their manager is a creepy untrustworthy cad...so again, not much originality.Much of the bands tomfoolery is played out through Wilson's Fishman character and it is slightly amusing as said, but it grows old very quickly. The whole aspect of his life going through a downhill spiral of rejection after losing Vesuvius is completely predictable and dull frankly. The sequences where he goes all wild and crazy in true rock n roll fashion are also slightly amusing but again so obvious, you just know at some point he'll trash a hotel room. The romance angle between Stone and the good looking lead singer is hammy as hell as is Josh Gad's fat kid character...hell its all clichéd to the max. This is the films problem, there is nothing here you haven't really seen before, every plot angle, every character development, the predictable face to face reunion with Vesuvius and their ultimate downfall in the concert finale etc...Its not exactly terrible stuff, its just completely average and actually kinda boring. THE only reason to watch this movie is for the sporadic moments of lunacy from Wilson, as in his other movie 'Super', he does show he can actually act and deliver emotion well. Other than that its a total by the numbers comedy. Heck even the films promotion efforts were similar to that Jack Black comedy I mentioned earlier. The main difference being that movie actually felt more like a homage to rock despite being a kids flick, you just don't get that with this movie.5/10

On paper this doesn't look promising. Failed aging rocker gets second chance via his his school nephew. All sounds a tad lame however despite this, The Rocker ends up being entertaining and at times funny. A lot of the charm of the film is down to one man. Rainn Wilson ( he of The Office fame). There is something about Wilson that just makes you watch. It's not even that he plays likable characters but there is something about him that is fascinating. Put say Jack Black in this role and I'm pretty sure the results would be far less desirable. Add in the gorgeous and very talented Emma Stone and really there isn't a lot to hate about this film. Yes in parts it's fairly predictable but it's always enjoyable as the downtrodden Wilson finally gets his shot at the big time. If you are in the mood for some silly but entertaining fun then this is the film for you.

This movie is everything that's bad about 21st century comedies. It stars an extremely ugly actor with a poor physique who spends a lot of time in his underwear and in one scene even appears naked. I call it "Will Ferrell Humor" where the antics of an ugly loser are supposed to be funny. The main character is just so unattractive, and this is supposed to be funny.It's not funny.In the beginning the ugly loser is a drummer in a rock band on the cusp of popular and financial success. The only problem is that a record company executive won't give them the contract unless the drummer is replaced by a relative. So the band dumps the ugly loser and becomes super famous. The ugly loser spends the next two decades being a loser. Then he joins another band. And somehow we're supposed to believe that Christina Applegate is the main character's love interest.It's not funny. It's stupid. And the music stinks too.Don't waste your time.

So why was this movie so bad? You have Rainn Wilson with a paunch and terrible hair piece in the flashback scenes and the scenes set in the present, who played drums for a cheesy teen pop band, who were happy to have a video on 2008s version of MTV, who had a party hosted by MySpace, rode to gigs in a bus (really? A new band with no album yet), are scheduled to open for a heavy metal band (poor kids - the band not the audience), and have an out-of-left-field break up.Google the term tone deaf.There needs to be some parts of a movie that don't shatter the suspension of disbelief but every minute of this movie seem to do just that for me.The only good thing about the film was the kids playing the band.