Liked Wahlberg

Rating: 6/10 (8 June 2014)

It's Pittsburg in the 80s. Chris Cole (Mark Wahlberg) idolizes the band Steel Dragon and works tirelessly to emulate them in a tribute band. His girlfriend Emily Poule (Jennifer Aniston) is his biggest fan. He repairs copying machines and still lives at home. His cop brother dismisses his dream. After an on stage fight with his guitarist Rob (Timothy Olyphant), he is kicked out of the band as they want to start playing their own music. Then a surprise call from Steel Dragon guitarist Kirk Cuddy (Dominic West) for Chris to audition for the band as he fires the lead singer Bobby Beers.
Mark Wahlberg has good likability as the dreamer and does a good rock star imitation. Jennifer Aniston is pretty good. She isn't doing anything out of her comfort zone. There are some rocking music even if Marky Mark doesn't do the singing. It's an earnest recreation like a tribute band. What this movie needs is a lot more jokes. Falling off the stairs could have been funny but it's played very seriously. The story is just too filled with clichés for me to take seriously. It feels very superficial and not gritty enough. In the end, I enjoyed Wahlberg's commitment to his character.