Well, it’s actually rated PG-13, but you get the point. Rainn Wilson, best known from the popular TV show, “The Office,” makes his comedic big-screen acting debut in “The Rocker” – the story of a drummer who cheated his shot at fame and is offered a second chance 20 years down the line. However, thanks to 20th Century Fox’s disposition to produce mainstream, family-oriented films, this movie takes a good concept, and in a sense, sells it short.
The film, in a nutshell, follows drummer Robert “Fish” Fishman, who, on the brink of signing a major record deal in the ’80s, is sold out by his friends. He’s told that the only “catch” to their deal is to replace his longtime friend and drummer with the president of the record label’s son. Twenty years later, his nephew (Josh Gad) begs him to fill in for his gig at the prom, and from there on out they end up signing a record deal which takes them on tour, eventually leading to the climactic face-to-face showdown with his former band.
Basically, there are two main roadblocks that keep this movie from reaching its full potential. The first is the incredibly hokey jokes littering the film. Genuinely funny moments appear periodically, but they’re more like cameos when compared to the vast amount of gags so unfunny that they’re borderline vomit-inducing. For instance, one of the scenes involves Fish’s nephew threatening his sister saying “if you don’t stop annoying me, I’m going to shave your head in your sleep.” She wittingly replies, “I’ll still be the pretty child.” The humor is so dry that it’s almost on par with British comedy. Another is a recurring slapstick joke where Fish hits his head on the ceiling of his sister’s attic where he sleeps every time he wakes up. Again, verging on British humor territory.
If you’re still reading at this point, the second roadblock is how the movie reaches its predictable “feel good” ending, where every character gets his G-rated, morally-approved resolution. Dark and brooding front man, Curtis (Teddy Geiger), who became cynical when his parents divorced, learns to become a team player and let others into his lives. The wannabe Avril Lavigne/Lindsay Lohan punk-rocker girl Amelia (Emma Stone) learns that you don’t have to act tough 24/7 and it’s “ok to smile.”
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with these highly wholesome Disney Channel messages, it’s just that it negates the whole comedic aspect of the movie. If it wasn’t a comedy, and instead a warm and fuzzy tale of redemption and second chances, it would’ve made for a great family film. However, this film’s humor stems from an aging rocker 20 years past his prime, who still thinks he can do everything that rockers half his age do these days (which we all know could never make a wholesome family film). If only this humor had been placed in the right context, the movie could have been truly hilarious.
Directed by: Peter Cattaneo
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Grade: C
