SNEAK PEEK REVIEW: The Rocker

The Rocker (Rated PG-13)

Running time: 1 hr 42 mins

Cast:

Rainn Wilson
Christina Applegate
Teddy Geiger
Josh Gad
Emma Stone

Critical consensus:

**1/2 out of *****

Matt's Take:

C-

Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:

** out of *****

The premise:

The Rocker tells the story of a failed drummer who is given a second chance at fame.

MY REVIEW
*I saw this film a month in advance, due to be released August 20th*

The Story and Screenplay: The Rocker is basically another un-original, un-inspiring, cliched comedy. Rainn Wilson (TV's The Office) headlines the film in what I think is his first actual leading role. He plays a 4o year failed drummer who was one of the original members of a now legendary and ficticious band called Vesuvius. This was in his 20's, and they kicked him out of the band in order to essentially become famous headliners. Cut to twenty years later, and now Wilson AKA "Fish" in the story, is some sort of phone salesman but still dawns that "groovy" hair doo. To cut this short, he finds himself as the new drummer in a teenage punk band. They instantly become famous because they find themselves on youtube with "fish" playing the drums naked, AKA "The Naked Drummer".

What follows is a pretty typical comedic story. I've made it known that I am not a huge fan of the comedy genre. I haven't lost my funny bone ladies and gentleman, I still laugh at these movies. It's the stories that drive me nuts. I like a good movie story. There's the type of comedies that are meant soley to make an audience laugh (spoof movies are this only exception) without having an actual story. Then there are the rest of the comedies, where the humor is derived from the crazy antics wrapped neatly in an attempt at heartfelt storyline. This particular story annoyed me. I'll tell you why: This teeange rock band has some of the most depressing teenagers in history of film!

The Story and Screenplay rating: ** out of *****

The Performances: Josh Gad (the kid in the red shirt from TV's Back to You) is the only exception. His character is actually kind of funny. He plays the nephew of failed drummer, Fish. He is the piano man in the band. He has a pretty good comedic delivery which is dry. Then we have Emma Stone (Superbad) she is the backup singer/bass player. She plays this typical teenage character who thinks she has life all figured out, like she's more important than she actually is in the grand scheme of things. Her performance isn't awful, but I hate her character. She utters the line, "smiling is for the weak" in a non-comedy scene. This line was meant for dramatic effect for her character to kind of give us a taste of who she is. The line is stupid, and I began to hate her character from that moment on. We never really get a true insight into why her character is the way she is, yet these kids are the main focus of the story. Weird. Then we have the lead singer/guitar character, and "heart of the story" played by newcomer Teddy Geiger. What a downer this kid was in this movie. He takes that stereo-typical depressed teeanger film character and amplifies it to the point where I hate his guts. He mopes around for the majority of this movie with a frown on his face and saying things like, "Oh my dad walked on me when I was a kid" or "I just wish my dad could see what I've become", blah blah. This character was SO depressing I almost wanted to take a gun out and shoot myself! Again, not a bad performance really, just a terribly writen character. Rainn Wilson almost embarasses himself. This is a joke compared to his Dwight Schrute character on The Office. That's all I'm going to say about that.

The Performances rating: ** out of *****


The Direction and Filmaking: No need to touch up on this subject a whole lot. For a comedy, it's pretty standard filmaking. Nothing to go crazy over, but comedies aren't meant for that are they?

The Direction and Filmaking: ** out of *****

CURRENT MIKEY @ THE MOVIES AWARD NOMINATIONS:

• None

To view this film's theatrical trailer, click this link: The Rocker

*This is the 66th new film I've seen and reviewed this year.