THE ROCKER
Paint-by-numbers teen comedy will take 102 minutes of your life.
The Rocker is a mediocre film aimed at teenagers, the people who like Will Farrell and John C. Rilley comedies, who werent around for the 80s but still like to make fun of them, and who still havent realized that bands like Dashboard Confessional and Sum 41 actually suck. In spite of a completely uninspired cookie-cutter script written by focus-group marketers, actors Rainn Wilson and Josh Gad manage to provide a few genuine laughs that dont begin to approach making up for an otherwise dull movie. Main plot thrust revolves around Robert Fishman (Wilson), who was a drummer with a struggling glam-rock/hair-metal band in the 1980s who was sold out by his bandmates in order for them to sign a major record label contract. Twenty years later, he lives a regretful, unsuccessful life at a corporate office. Through circumstance, he moves into the attic of his brother and comes into contact with his nephew, a nerdy teen outsider who just happens to be starting a band and just happens to be looking for a drummer. You can probably write the rest of the script yourself. The movie has the predictability and writing quality of a primetime teen comedy series but the 14-year-olds the movie is aimed at probably wont notice. Rainn Wilson does his best to imitate Ferrell and Riley, sometimes to genuinely comedic effecttheres a lot of self-deprecating displaying of his fat, pasty body and lots of scenes where he yells things enthusiastically and then falls down or gets hit in the head. Id like to see him outside such a paint-by-numbers movie where he could actually create a real role instead of mimicking someone elses; one gets the impression theres a lot more talent in him than this movie suggests, which can be seen in his Emmy-nominated role on The Office. Equally suggestive is young Josh Gad, who gives an honest and funny interpretation of the nerdy-yet-somewhat-cool fat highschooler. Christina Applegate is also in it as his mom, looking a lot older than most of us remember and managing to pick up some of the slack dropped by the other young leads, who do a lot of posing and one-note acting, unfortunately for them. Theres really not much I can say about this. I laughed a few times, but they were sort of forced. I wouldnt expect much from this film, its a clichéd and tired concept, but it could have been a lot better if it wasnt written by someone reading the manual for how-to-appeal-to-teens; this film has the corporate construction of pap like American Idol and The Backstreet Boys. It roped in semi-talented up-and-comers who want a shot at breaking out but really sabotages their career by making them imitate the second-rate trash thats already out there. I hope one day everyone involved in this film gets a second chance to show they have talent, when marketing executives arent directing a picture, because you sure wouldnt know it from this film.
rating:1.5
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