The boys are now in town

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2011)

Avant-garde director Adam Rifkin has successfully made a teenage film that shows passion, urgency, and desire all in a believable state. The story of his film Detroit Rock City works because we like these characters even though they are odd and strange outcasts, and because the story's central point of focus, KISS concert tickets, seem to be so easy yet so difficult to obtain. It's a simplistic story made complex because of heavy factors; like age, overprotective moms, and disco Guidos.
The four boys are do-it-all Hawk (Furlong), party-boy Lex (Andrews), loudmouth Trip (DeBello), and insecure Jam (Huntington) who love to rock out, work soft, play hard, and smoke marijuana. They have a garage band called "Mystery" that mirrors the band they idolize, KISS. After much trouble they look to have their eardrums blown off at an upcoming KISS concert, but because of Jam's overbearing mother, the tickets are gone and so are their hopes for the best concert ever.
Though by sure luck, Trip calls into a radio show, answers the obligatory KISS question, and wins the four boys four tickets and backstage passes to the same concert. So now, they break Jam out of a boarding school his mother placed him in and are now resuming their plans for the best concert ever.
Rifkin clearly knows how to have a fun time. He seems to know how it was to be a teenager who loved sex, drugs, rock and roll, and loud music. All the boys start as cookie cutter stereotypes, but it isn't until the final act of the film where they go off on their own that we see the true side of everyone of them.
The fatal mistake Detroit Rock City made back when it was released in 1999; it cut off its main audience. Because of its R rating, used to fully utilize the language and drugs true to the youth, certain High Schoolers who I'm sure mirrored the behavior of the individuals portrayed in the film weren't allowed to see it without a parent. But how could you make a PG-13 Detroit Rock City? I just don't see it.
This also occupies one of the best film soundtracks I've heard in quite sometime. Yes, lots of KISS songs are played to amuse the fanboys, but songs like "The Boys Are Back in Town," "Highway to Hell," "Iron Man," "Jailbreak," "Rebel Rebel," and more are all snuck in. Detroit Rock City doesn't just stoop to the level of all KISS, all the time. I sneaks in other easily recognizable rock tunes to please both the fans of the band and rock fans in general. No assembly of knowledge on KISS is required to enjoy this film. It's a centrist kind of film.
Now if only the ending could've been more. I dare not spoil it, but it feels like something was thrown on the cutting room floor too early. It feels vacant, void, and abrupt. Detroit Rock City is an eventful camaraderie of enjoyable characters and amusing events that please the most persistent and choosy buddy comedy fan.
Starring: Eddie Furlong, Giuseppe Andrews, James DeBello, and Sam Huntington. Directed by: Adam Rifkin.