The Rocker isn't rocking

The main character is not Geiger but the less attractive, if more colorful, character of Rainn Wilson (The Last Mimzy; My Super Ex-Girlfriend; Baadasssss!). He bears a very close resemblance to Jack Black, but doesn’t really have the latter’s charisma. He was, nevertheless, cast to play a Black sort of role in this movie, which shamelessly follows the plot of the more entertaining The School of Rock (2003), in which Black did a brilliant job. This time the middle-age baby is Wilson’s Robin Fisherman, who goes by the name of Fish. He could have been a rock star if he wasn’t kicked out of the 1980s glam-rock band Vesuvius, just before the guys signed a record deal with a major label. Now, 20 years later, he still goes about his business in his ’80s rock-star wardrobe, spilling the beans when given a chance.
His eccentric behavior, which made him a rebel in his youth, but rather pathetic in his 40s, is supposed to be the source of much of the humor.
Life gives Fish a second chance to achieve the dream that left him behind when A D D, the teenage school band of his nephew Matt (Josh Gad: 21; Razortooth) needs a drummer.
But on their first gig the uncontrollable uncle forgets to pull his breaks when he goes on an orgasmic drum solo at the end of a major school party.
Seen as an infantile loose cannon by the much too serious members of the band, which also includes Geiger as Curtis and  Emma Stone (The House Bunny) as Amelia, he’s once again disposed of at the end of the evening. He fights his way back this time with the promise that he’ll get A D D a deal for a bigger concert. The ball stars rolling when, after some more trouble, the parents ban the children from meeting each other and Fish for rehearsals but, ingeniously, they reunite to practice through the internet.

Rat-infested

Fish, in the comfort of a rat-infested cellar that became his home after his sister Lisa (Jane Lynch: For Your Consideration; Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby; The 40 Year-Old Virgin) kicked him out of her house, turns a flabby behind to the camera and plays his drums oblivious to the recording.
It doesn’t take long before YouTube makes them famous and the story of the rags-to-riches begins.
Kim (Christina Applegate: Surviving Christmas; Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy; Wonderland) brings some charm to the screen as Curtis’s single mom and Fish’s romantic interest, which sounds unlikely, but luckily didn’t feel that way because the director handles that situation light-handedly.
The comedian Jeff Garlin (Strange Wilderness; Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot; I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With), as Matt’s dad and Lisa’s husband, was very entertaining as the marginal child-like character who lives the conventional life of a married man with a boring office job.
For all its brighter moments, however, and despite Cattaneo’s good credentials as the  director of The Full Monty, The Rocker passes as just another quick-to-forget Hollywood comedy.

The Rocker
Running time: 1 hr 42 mins
MPAA rating: Rated PG-13 for drug and sexual references, nudity and language.

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