Film Review: The Rocker (2008)

I knew this would happen. 

I was at the local video store looking for something to rent on the weekend. It has been a while since I had perused the new releases section, and I was eager to see what bountiful booty had found its way to the shelves. As I generally hate being major chain video stores (especially the half-assed branches that exist in my home town), my goal was to pick a flick quickly, then leave with my soul intact.

It was a toss up between two flicks: the new X-Files release (X-Files: I Want to Believe) with Billy Connolly, and The Rocker, with Rainn Wilson. While I'm interested to see what sitting in production purgatory for 10 years did (or didn't) do for the X-Files film, I decided The Rocker was the way to go. After all, who wants to deal with heavy Alien/Conspiracy dialogue on the Sunday night of a long weekend?

Here's the other side of the coin though. Reading the back of The Rocker, I knew it had the potential to...well...rock. Hair-Metal, Rock cliches, Rainn Wilson? Guaranteed to illicit a few laughs, right? Yet with all the awesome-ness, there was that nagging possibility that The Rocker could take a nosedive 2/3's of the way through. I knew it going in, but It was a risk I was willing to take.

....And, well, I was right.  

As mentioned, The Rocker stars Rainn Wilson (The Office) as Robert 'Fish' Fishman, a 30-something desk jockey vehemently obsessed with the rock star life he once had as original drummer for the hair-metal mega-band Vesuvius.  

Fast-foward to 10 years (or so) later. Vesuvius is the biggest band in the world, and Fish is stuck floundering in an office. A series of events brings him in contact with his nephew Matt (Josh Gad), and his teenaged angst-ridden high-school band A.D.D. Fish eventually joins A.D.D., whose mismatched musical line-up produces hilarious results...for a while.

Watching this film, I hoped - no prayed - that it would take the high road and not stroll down the Skid Row of American comedies: the three-act rags-t0-riches-with-a-touch-of-love plotline. But after the first 30 minutes, it became quite apparent The Rocker was not only going down to Skid Row, but it was looking to score some smack and die the OD death of a rockstar on the curb. 

The film opens up with some absolutely hilarious moments. Vesuvius' opening performance with Rainn Wilson along side Will Arnett (Arrested Development, this hillarious clip), Fred Armisen (SNL, the "creepy Italian" in EuroTrip) and Bradley Cooper (Alias, He's Just Not That Into You...ugh) is so well executed, that it's oddly and accurately reminiscent of the flamboyant hair-metal performances that typified the '80s. 

Other comedic heavy weights, including Jeff Garlin, Jane Lynch, Human Giant's Aziz Ansari and SNL's Jason Sudeikis as the slimy, over-confident band manager (check this clip out) give this film a hard and fast comedic edge that fools the audience in believing the laughs can last right to the end.

Performances newcomers Josh Gad, and Emma Stone are particularly brilliant, and a pleasure to watch on-screen. Both actors display an astute sense of comedic timing and presence well beyond their years, and hold their own in obvious ad-lib matches with the much more seasoned professionals in the film. 

And then it happens...Enter Christina Applegate. 

I like Christina Applegate, but her abrupt appearance 2/3's into the film meant only one thing: Love Interest. Well, it meant two things: Love interest followed by me vomiting in my mouth.

Her appearance sets of a cataclysmic chain of events where characters start falling in love, learning about morals and coming to terms with their pasts...Wonderful. As a result, the last 1/3 of the film was a blur to me, because I stopped paying attention and started looking for blunt instruments to gouge my eyes out with.

I'm not opposed to love on film (I think The Notebook is wonderfully directed and beautifully acted). I am opposed to love subplots when they're injected in a formulaic manner into a film that doesn't need it. When Applegate is introduced, it's not hard for the audience to guess the sequence of events...

1. Girl introduced to guy, is annoyed by his childish ways (etc.)

2. Guy, in turn, thinks girl is a prude and says/does things to annoy her

3. Cosmic forces intervene to bring Guy/Girl closer together for some mutual goal

4. Guy/Girl realize they're not that different after all.

5. Guy/Girl eventually realize Cinderella-like love story

6. Life works out, everyone's happy and Guy/Girl buy a house and make Rice Krispie squares

I had hoped when renting this film that it was going to take the School of Rock approach to Rock-flicks, namely that Rock take primacy over all other subplots, thus squashing them out of the film. After watching School of Rock, I applauded director Richard Linklater for not resorting to the love-interest three-act American comedy model, when it would have been so easy to do so. Of course his comedy was light movie-going fare (it had a bunch of kids in it, after all), but it was intelligent because it picked the theme of rocking out and stuck with it.

The Rocker, by contrast, chose to start off thrashing right out of the gates, only to halt its momentum by poisoning itself with love at the end.

In a way though, The Rocker typifies the genre it portrays: Strong and full of energy at the beginning, flaccid and dead at the end.

Sometimes I hate being right.....

Pros:

• Great ensemble cast of well-established comedians give comedic bits a sharper edge
• Excellent performances from newcomers Josh Gad and Emma Stone
• Decision to cast teen heartthrob and John Mayer-like musician Teddy Geiger as the singer of A.D.D. gave the band some performance believability.

Cons:

•  Cliched love-interest subplot insertion ruined all momentum this film built up in the first 2/3's of the film.
• Christina Applegate's performance was unfortunately lack-lustre and vomit-inducing.
• Where are all the guest appearances by Skid Row, Cinderella, Poison and all other Hair Metal bands that made this period in music history so hilarious?