The Rocker (2008) Movie Review

The Rocker is an entire rehash of a much better film called School of Rock starring Jack Black. Though it does garner a few laughs and has good intentions, all of the material in The Rocker has been done before and done much better.

The film opens in the 80’s where we meet Fish (Rainn Wilson), who is the energetic drummer of the upcoming heavy metal band Vesuvius. However, the band quickly cuts him out of the equation when they are offered a contract, leaving Fish crazily angered and hurt. Flash forward to modern day, where Fish works a crummy job and has to take up board in his sister’s (Jane Lynch) home. His nephew Matt (Josh Gad) is a teenager and a member of the band ADD, and once the band loses their drummer, Fish is given another chance to rock. The other two members of the band include the lead singer and songwriter Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and guitar player Emma (Emma Stone). Once the band becomes known, the band goes on tour and as the band bond; Fish becomes a father figure and also becomes sweet on Curtis’s mom (Chrisitina Applegate).

Director Peter Cattaneo and writers Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky try to make this a funny comedy that has heart with the relationships of the characters. A even though the film is watchable, it has all been seen before, even to the precise detail of some scenes. There is one hilarious scene were Fish plays the drums naked, while every person that has computer sees it. Also having Fish always hugging everyone after his performance and drenched in sweat is also a nice original touch to the film. The film does move at nice pace, even though it is predictable.

The Office’s Rainn Wilson does his best to play the over the top Jack Black type character. Wilson is an okay comedic actor, but he does have the range or the edge to inhabit a character like this. As mention, Black who have been better, but it is role that is mastered by an actor like Will Ferrell. Christina Applegate arises as Wilson’s love interest and Jane Lynch plays his sister. The younger cast of the film works well with each other and so promise, including Emma Stone, who was last seen in Superbad.

The Rocker is a film that failed miserably at the box office, mostly because it came out during the summer. That should not be a reflection that the film is that bad, because it is not. It is however, something that we have all seen before