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"The Rocker" offers us Rainn Wilson in a pale imitation
of "School of Rock". "Fish" (Wilson) beats the drums for
his band Vesuvius featuring his high school pals Lex (Will
Arnett) and Trash (Bradley Cooper). When the band's management
suggests replacing Fish for the son (Lonny Ross of "30 Rock")
of a record executive the band hesitates all of 30 seconds
before agreeing because it will get them the contract they
want. 20 years later Fish finds himself still swimming upstream
trying to hold a job and battling the memories of what was
done to him forcing which breaks up his relationship with
his girlfriend (Jane Krakowski). Forced to move in with
his sister and jobless Fish is adrift until his nephew's
band A.D.D. needs a drummer for their prom gig. Fish enjoys
it so much that he convinces the rest of the band (Samantha
Weinstein, Nick Spencer, Josh Gad) to keep him on IF he
can land them a real gig. He delivers and they begin the
rise of up the mountain of success only to find that Vesuvius
still stands in Fish's way. Featuring a strong cast including
Christina Applegate and Mark Forward among others, the film
just doesn't gel. ***
A modestly enjoyable comedy, "The Rocker" would probably
have made a bigger impact if "School of Rock" had never
come out. Superficially resembling the "Rock", "The Rocker"
never quite finds its own unique voice and plays almost
like a wild "R" rated version of a Nickelodeon made-for-TV
movie. Wilson does a solid job in his first starring role
but the only material that is strong here are the songs
written for the band A.D.D. to perform. Director Peter Cattaneo
("The Full Monty") does a nice job with what he given but
the script is so predictable that he doesn't stand a chance.
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Image & Sound:
Another lousy Fox screener this was full of digital
artifacts that made watching this just a step above watching
it on VHS. I haven't seen a screener that looks this bad
since the last "X-Men" movie. Why can't Fox realize that
sending out a screener DOESN'T decrease piracy, irritates
the reviewers and makes it impossible to recommend a film
(plus it actually costs them more to create these screeners
and overnight them than it does to send out the finished
product). ***
Audio sounds fine although I did note some distortion
during the music sequences. ---
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