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Movie Review: The Rocker
by Bill Wine
A failed middle-aged drummer is given a second chance at fame when he joins his nephew's high school band
RATING: PG-13
GENRE: Comedy
RELEASE DATE: August 20, 2008
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes
VIOLENCE FACTOR: There is no violence
BAD WORDS: None too harsh or belabored
RACY? In what remains firmly a family film throughout — a brief glimpse of Rainn Wilson's backside becomes an important plot point, but more laugh-worthy than racy
GRANDS:
CRITIQUE:
Rainn Wilson plays Dwight on a TV sitcom (you know the one). But while Wilson's out of The Office this summer, he's given free rein to play his comic instrument on the big screen.
Wilson takes on his first starring role in the appealing family rock-and-roll comedy, The Rocker, which gets lots of laughs by hitting most of the right comedic high notes.
He plays Robert "Fish" Fishman, who was dismissed as the drummer of the Cleveland rock band, Vesuvius, in 1986 — to make room for a record company CEO's drummer-nephew — just when the group was about to go platinum and on its way to worldwide fame.
Twenty years later, still embittered, Fish throws a tantrum in his office about his boring gig and ends up losing his job, his girlfriend, and his home. So he moves in with his sister's family. When his teenage nephew asks him to replace the drummer in his high school band, A.D.D., and perform at the prom, Fish reluctantly agrees.
A cheeky video featuring a naked Fish playing the drums finds its way onto YouTube, and A.D.D. becomes the next big thing. Hey, Fish may get a second shot at fame after all.
British director Peter Cattaneo, best known for The Full Monty, gives us relatable and endearing characters and gets a strong ensemble effort from his cast (including Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeikis, Jeff Garlin, Jane Lynch, and Will Arnett). Despite its proximity to the rock-world arena, the film stays sweet and family-oriented. Wilson shows a promising penchant for physical comedy throughout a parade of truly funny running sight gags that Cattaneo sets up and delivers with aplomb.
The Rocker is similar to the Jack Black family comedy, School of Rock. But this Rainn Wilson showcase finds its own groove and has an idiosyncratic charm that ought to delight grandkids and grandparents alike.
Where slapstick is concerned, it turns out, this Rainn man is an excellent driver.
GP Rating System:
Four Grands = Bravo, don't miss it.
Three Grands = Pretty good, short list it.
Two Grands = Just okay, don't dismiss it.
One Grand = Yeah, we dissed it.
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