Movie & Reviews
The Rocker: A textbook example of August movie mediocrity
By Nick DeRatto
Aug 27, 2008 - 9:40:04 AM

** out of five

August, you had me worried.

The release of last week’s incredibly funny and well done Tropic Thunder bucked the trend of August’s reputation as the summer movie dumping ground, a time known for its lackluster releases. If you can’t count on August releases to be subpar, what can you count on?

Thankfully, The Rocker has set things right again and all matter of things are well.

The Rocker opens up in 1986 with main character Robert “Fish” Fishman (Rainn Wilson) serving as drummer of heavy metal hair band Vesuvias. Ditched from the band right before they hit stardom, Fish is left jobless, homeless, and still carrying a grudge for his former bandmates 22 years later. While living at his sister’s house, he gets a second chance at stardom after the drummer for his nephew’s high school garage band quits before their first gig at the prom. With the band grudgingly hiring him as their new drummer, he eventually leads them to the fame and glory that he had missed out on in the past.

Everything about this movie screams mediocrity at its best. After an entertaining introduction with Fish chasing his bandmates’ van after they kick him out, the film goes downhill fast. Seemingly out of ideas after that first hilarious sequence, director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) relies heavily on clichés to carry the movie the rest of the way through.

Unsure of what to do, Cattaneo introduces situations that are either never developed properly or resolved so quickly that they barely register. Fish’s relationship with one of the band member’s mothers (Christina Applegate) goes nowhere, as do other potential relationships in the movie, making me wonder what the point was of introducing them at all. Note to directors: movies can succeed without a love interest being present.

As with any generic rock movie schlock, Cattaneo diligently includes the music movie standards, including fighting between band members and a greedy manager. However, any turmoil is reconciled within a few scenes, making it all seem rather pointless.

The Rocker still might succeed if it was funny. Alas, once again we can mark another epic fail in that regard. Foregoing any type of intelligent humor, Cattaneo instead strives for shock value and slapstick humor. I’m not above seeing someone get hit in the face or fall over – as long as it’s paired with other types of humor. Sadly enough, that’s not the case here. There are only so many times you can see someone get hit before it loses its edge.

Overall, The Rocker is instantly forgettable, the perfect movie for the August dumping ground. There are so much better rock movies out there, that it’s rather pointless to waste your money on a far inferior School of Rock rip-off. Cattaneo should go back to watching School of Rock or This Is Spinal Tap to see how a rock movie should be made.

The Rocker has a runtime of 102 minutes and is rated PG-13 for drug and sexual references, nudity, and language. It was viewed at Carmike 10.

nderatto@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421


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