The clichés will underwhelm you

Rating: 5/10 (16 August 2002)

Some movies are good, some are bad, and the rest are mediocre. Rock Star definitely falls into the latter group, buried under unknown-deals-with-fame clichés that are so timeworn you can almost see them unravel.
Mark Wahlberg is the lead singer in a 'tribute' band in the mid-80s and Jennifer Aniston is his manager/girlfriend, and both give good performances. Wahlberg is especially good at lip-synching the vocals (provided by another heavy-metal singer, see Trivia). Aniston is the one character I really gave a damn about; she is so much better in movies than she is in television. She has to get out of Friends.
**Mild SPOILERS**
In fact, there really weren't any bad performances, and the production values looked pretty good to me. The movie's script chokes on all of the clichés: band break-up, hard partying, fame going to the young man's head, girl leaves him because of his infidelity, disillusionment. etc. Anyone could have written this script in about 20 minutes. Most laughable to me was the constant reference to Seattle ... I just knew that he would wind up becoming a grunge act (most definitely a suburban version of Kurt Cobain, right down to the sweater!).
Almost Famous covers the same backstage drama but the characters are so much less two-dimensional than in Rock Star, and it rises above the clichés. Ultimately, Rock Star has no life or energy outside of the music. 5 out of 10.