Poodle-perm fun

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2002)

It's a revelation to me that people haved raved about this film. I couldn't imagine who, except Mark Wahlberg fans, the target audience was supposed to be. Running against the grain of the huge current popularity of modern metal, the film is set 15 years ago when Heart and Bon Jovi rocked the world and features a soundtrack of screaming-guitar poodle-perm AOR. No genuine Heavy metal or new metal fan is going to enjoy it. Jennifer Anniston is missing for a huge chunk at the middle, and the romance story is pretty incidental, so there go the girls and the Friends fans. It's not even that funny, so there's no word of mouth about the laughs or the great set-pieces. Did you even realise this was directed by the same man who gave the world Bill and Ted and Don't Tell Monm the Baby-sitter's Dead? I have to say, I like Bon Jovi, and the concert material made me smile, but I don't understand how money got invested in this project.