Rock Star is not a great film, and maybe not even that good of one, yet what works in it works so well, that I’m willing to forgive it for its flaws. A huge portion of the film feels lightweight. As if it isn’t quite telling the whole story, or that it isn’t showing us enough detail for us to care. Since some parts of it are so well written and done so well, I’m not willing to blame the hollow parts as a lack on the part of the creators so much as the fact that they just tried to cover far too much in one film. In the end it certainly didn’t live up to its potential. I’m not sure, but perhaps it should have been more focused, or tried to succeed on a smaller scale.

Mark Wahlberg, an actor whom I’ve yet to consider very good, plays an ordinary fellow, Chris Cole, who has such a passionate love for the music of a heavy metal fictional band Steel Dragons that he is the lead in a cover group. He and his friends dress up and play songs already made famous by their idols. Wahlberg’s character is not happy unless his band looks and sounds exactly like them. He knows every detail right down to what clothes they wore for specific concert appearances. Actually, he seems to have modeled his life after the lead singer, Bobby Beers, and even wears some makeup while he is performing his day job as a copy machine repairman.

When he gets the chance to go to one of their concerts, he gets in a fight with another cover band, but only after first correcting every detail that is wrong with their outfits. During that same concert he is standing against the stage and is almost within touching distance of the lead singer who actually hears him sing along and looks impressed.

However, his bandmates while impressed with his performing ability find his nitpicking so annoying that they no longer enjoy playing with him, and kick him out, replacing him with the lead from the rival tribute band.

Almost immediately following his dismissal, or start of a solo career, he is contacted by the lead guitarist of the actual Steel Dragons. The band offers to fly him out to see if he can sing as well as he sounds on a videotape they have been sent. The real band is looking to replace their lead, Bobby Beers. Cole performs well, and is offered the gig. In short, his dream became a reality.

Ebert’s review says that in real life, an Ohio office supply salesman named Tim ''Ripper'' Owens actually did replace Rob Halford, the lead singer in Judas Priest, after warming up as lead singer in a tribute band. This is most likely the inspiration for the film, but no historical connection seems needed to be made. This is no documentary.

We then see Cole earn his right to perform, first with his bandmates, and then with the fans. He wins over the press, his fans, and then the easiest marks, the groupies. I probably don’t need to give you much detail over what happens for the next hour, since the film continues down a predictable path. Some of the little details are nice, but from this point on the story is just going through the motions.

I still want to emphasize that the movie had great moments in it. I really felt his passion for the band when we see him singing along from the front row. I really loved the scene where he played in the booth for the band, and he cannot hear them talk to one another. We stare along with him trying to figure out if the band liked or didn’t like what they heard. During his first photo shoot with the band, they are all supposed to look mean and tough but he can’t stop grinning he is so happy, and so enjoying himself. I also sense his passion for singing when we see him break out in song during a church choir practice. Speaking of which, when asked by a reporter during his first press conference how he got such a good singing voice, he starts to talk about his singing teacher in church, and not understanding the importance of the image, one of the band members interrupts by saying that he got his voice “from eating lots of pusssy”.

The movie also had some great parallels. When we see Cole thrown out of the band, we shortly see the lead from Steel Dragons kicked out of his band. The parallels are an obvious warning that he could lose everything just as easily again. Later, when Cole is performing on stage, he sees a fan singing along just like he did from the front row. Only this time, he speeds up the replacement process by bringing him up on stage to sing with him.

Wahlberg can sing, although he never did any heavy metal like he does here. The songs in the film are generally pretty good, although I doubt I’ll be buying the soundtrack anytime soon. Watching these performers who are supposed to be similar to rock stars from the eighties, I couldn’t help but think of how different the rock stars of the nineties behave on stage. Is it just me, or do Rock Stars of the last ten years look about as happy to be on stage as do models on a runway? The rock stars here look like they are really happy to be on stage and play the roles of angry powerful legends.

Timothy Spall plays the band’s manager and does a great job. He has the best resume of any actor in the film. His role is small, but every bit of it is priceless. Jennifer Aniston is surprisingly given the most to do here. She had the largest range to go through, and she did it well. Although she still hasn’t had her breakthrough role, this is as close as she’s gotten. Jason Flemyng plays Bobby Beers. I have seen and liked him in a lot of recent films including “A Knight’s Tale” and “From Hell”. I really liked the scene where he is trying to discourage Cole from replacing him. He tells him that if he thinks it is all about the women, drugs and exciting lifestyle, he has no clue. He tells him he is gay, never takes drugs, and is in bed by 11:30 every night. How else could he “keep his voice sounding like this?” he asks.

That bit was clever and original, and I just wish that the film didn’t have so much that I’ve seen so many times before. We see wives in their limos following band members in a bus with their sluttier woman on board. We get the trashing of hotel rooms, where one comic moment shows a maid discovering all the furniture attached to the ceiling. The eventual confrontation where Cole’s longtime and supportive girlfriend leaves him because of the new lifestyle, tries to come back and eventually catches him with a line of woman was nothing too original, and certainly predictable.

The first time Cole is on stage and some of the fans try to revolt, seemed very familiar to the famous story of Ringo pushing out the Beatles original drummer, and succeeding through his sheer talent.

Another thing that bothered me is that I think Cole first wanted out of Steel Dragons when he realized that he was nothing more than a paid singer, and would never be given creative input. Since it was clear when he was in the cover band that all of his songs were previously written by the Steel Dragons, insisting on absolutely no changes, I’m surprised he ever became interested in expressing his own art.

For the type of kids who dream of being a rock star of old who looked like they enjoy being on stage, this film will become an over watched favorite. It serves as a fairy tale version to something like the Tom Hanks directed “That Thing That You Do” about a band that rises to the top. What makes this an unusual story, however, is that here an unknown gets invited to be the lead singer in the band that is already on top.

When I walked out of this film, I wasn’t very happy with it and thought it just wasn’t original enough. But the more I thought about the film days later, the more I remembered what I liked about it, and recommend it on how strong the good points were.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older