limited laughs

Rating: 5/10 (5 November 2016)

It's 1978. Hawk (Edward Furlong), Lex (Giuseppe Andrews), Trip (James DeBello), and Jeremiah "Jam" Bruce (Sam Huntington) are four Cleveland high school kids in KISS tribute band Mystery. Beth (Melanie Lynskey) secretly likes Jam. When his mother finds their KISS concert tickets in his pocket, she destroys them and transfers him to a Catholic boarding school. The boys win tickets on the radio but it's Detroit radio. They rescue Jam from his school and set off for the radio station. The DJ reveals that Trip hung up before actually getting the tickets. The boys split up and have little more than an hour to get into the concert.
The writer Carl V. Dupré seems to be more adapt at horror and that's probably where the problem with this movie starts. Adam Rifkin's directing skills may not be the best either. There are plenty of attempts at slapstick comedy. It's trying to be a rock and roll high school comedy except the comedy part is under-served. It's got the rocking music. The comedy is broad and irreverent. There are a lot of interesting young actors who are capable of doing good work. The strip show is kinda funny. In the end, it's simply not funny enough, at least not consistently funny.