Movie 127: The Rocker

80’s hair metal band Vesuvius are about to hit the big time, but the record label has one condition. They have to replace Fish (Rainn Wilson) with an executives son. And they do. 20 years later Fish is stuck in a 9 to 5 job and still holds a grudge. When his nephew Matt’s (Josh Gad) band is short a drummer for a prom gig he manages to convince his reluctant uncle to pick the sticks up again. Fish showboats and pisses off the band, but they give him another chance. A video chat rehearsal with a naked Fish ends up being a You Tube sensation and the band are on their way to the big time.

There’s plenty to entertain here but unfortunately it falls a little short, and its not really the casts fault. The problem is that while Rainn is a little bit Dwight from the Office he comes across as Jack Black lite here. Its like they WANTED Jack, but couldn’t get him.

I have no problem with someone playing something different to how they’re known. And Rainn is great here but through the whole thing I kept seeing Jack. When someone is synonymous with a type of character and someone else plays the exact same thing the second guy is going to suffer.

Don’t get me wrong, The Rocker is a good, though not great, rock band movie. It has plenty of messages about bands being family, good music and plenty of funny moments. The whole cast performs well. But because of that major issue it falls short.

There’s a fair few TV guys here. Rainn Wilson himself obviously, Josh Gad was in the short lived Back To You and he plays a similar character here that he did there if your familiar with that show. Not many are, hence the short lived.

Jane Lynch pops up in a very small role and it’s the first time I’ve seen her playing a relatively normal character. She feels kind of wasted. As I said, stretching is fine. But Jane is damned good at what she does and it would have been nice to see more of her usual bitchiness. Pretty much anyone could have played her role in this one.

One very notable cameo is Dimitri Martin. I LOVE Dimitri. From his odd appearance in the Daily Show to his own show now, the guy is hilarious. He plays an eccentric video producer here and he’s brilliant in the little bit he’s given.

The Rocker is an entertaining little comedy, but it probably won’t be enough to make anyone’s favourite list. It’s no School of Rock or Josey and the Pussycats, two films it could be compared to in various ways. But there are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

Next up: Infestation