Director Stephen Herek's sense of style helps to make "Rock Star" palatable

Rating: 5/10 (7 February 2008)

Writing about flawed films sometimes is more fun than writing about fabulous ones. Flawed films interest me for what they aspired to rather than achieved. Take director Stephen Herek's "Rock Star," for example, a cinematic experience as amiable but anemic as its generic title. The original title was "Metal God," and the studio should have kept it. Somewhere beneath this superficial but alluring epic penned by actor, writer, & sometime director John Stockwell lurks a better movie. Imagine a diluted version of "The Doors" meets "The Jazz Singer." The shoddy third act resolution generates little catharsis. "Rock Star" lacks a physical villain, so our hero has nobody to contend with but himself. As charismatic as Mark Wahlberg is, he struggles valiantly to make an impression as a remote, aloof character devoid of ambiguity. Poor Jennifer Aniston vanishes in the second act, only to return late in act three to provide closure to a routine romance. Wahlberg and Aniston make a good couple, but their romance evaporates in act two. "Rock Star" is neither as provocative as 1979's "The Rose" with Bette Midler" nor as satiric as Rob Reiner's classic "This Is Spinal Tap." This middle-of-the-road rock'n' roll opera doesn't rock enough but rolls briskly to its inevitable cautionary conclusion. Be yourself is the message. Essentially, Herek & Stockwell adapted the real-life Cinderella saga of Tim "Ripper" Owens, an Akron, Ohio, musician who idolized British head bangers Judas Priest, but turned it into inoffensive potboiler. Happily, director Stephen Herek of "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" and "Mr. Holland's Opus" ushers a supremely competent cast through their paces. Even when this harmless, 106 minute expose of fame isn't terribly profound, Herek makes it infinitely easy to watch, thanks in part to both Ueli Steiger's atmospheric cinematography and Trudy Ship's snappy editing.
"Rock Star" unfolds during the noisy Reagan years of the 1980s. By day, Pittsburgh native Chris Cole (Mark Wahlberg of "Three Kings") toils as a photo-copier repair technician and lives at home in his parents' day-care center. (I liked the way Herek & Stockwell inserted the clever symbolism about a copier repairman who copies a rock star.) By night, Chris lets his hair down and boogies with Blood Pollution, a heavy-metal tribute band to fictitious British rockers Steel Dragon. Incidentally, neither Judas Priest nor Tim Owens sought to be associated with "Rock Star," which explains why Herek & Stockwell have embellished things. Anyway, Chris has been grooving on Steel Dragon since his disappointed big brother Joe dumped their debut album in his lap. Bad blood exists between Chris and Joe; Joe happens to be a uniformed patrolman. Chris' girlfriend Emily Poule (Jennifer Aniston of TV's "Friends") serves as Blood Pollution's manager. So absorbed and obsessed is Chris with replicating Steel Dragon tunes riff for riff that he refuses to tolerate the least departure from their original material. Chris's fanaticism aggravates fellow guitarist & friend Rob (smarmy Timothy Olyphant of "Scream 2") who claims the fans won't object to his improvisations. Eventually, during a concert at a steel factory, Chris catches Rob improvising, and the two scrap on stage. Later, when Chris and Emily show up for a practice session in the basement of a porno movie theatre, Rob announces they have replaced Chris. An argument erupts, and Chris discovers to his horror that his friends consider themselves a 'cover band' instead of 'a tribute band.' They exploit Steel Dragon tunes to lure in audiences and then regale them with their own originals. Chris throws a tantrum and storms out with Emily at his heels. No sooner has this happened than Chris receives a call from Kirk Cuddy (Dominic West of "28 Days") of Steel Dragon. Initially, Chris suspects he is being duped until Kirk convinces him beyond a shadow of a doubt. Sworn to secrecy, Chris shares two of his groupie friends, Nina and Samantha, and Steel Dragon wants him to audition for lead singer. Chris and Emily fly out to L.A., and Chris discovers to his chagrin that Steel Dragon lead singer Bobby Beers is gay. Apparently, Bobby (Jason Flemyng of "Snatch") has been neglecting his responsibilities to the band, and Steel Dragon axes him.
Before long, Emily and Chris realize they cannot stay together. She heads off to Seattle with a girlfriend to open a coffee shop. Fellow band member A.C. (Jason Bonham, son of the late "Led Zeppelin" drummer John Bonham) advises Chris to let Emily go, too. Says A.C.: "Your job is to live the fantasy other people only dream about. Dream big--live the life." The next time Chris sees Emily, he is so wasted he doesn't realize he is in Seattle where she runs her coffee shop. Herek & Stockwell give this section of "Rock Star" the short shrift. Several scenes appear to be missing, because the drama dries up in the third act. Eventually, Chris learns success with Steel Dragon comes at a price. A.C. and Kirk write all the songs, and they scoff at Chris's ideas and songs. Unlike most movies where the characters neither grow nor evolve, Chris does grow and winds up hitting the road to do his own thing.
The cast performs splendidly. Mark Wahlberg is thoroughly persuasive as the naive, gullible Chris. The major shortcomings in "Rock Star" lay with John Stockwell's shallow script that gives Wahlberg nothing to work with in fleshing out a bone and blood character. Chris suffers minimally at the hands of Steel Dragon. He doesn't experience a baptism by fire that would reform him. Herek & Stockwell do an adequate job of recreating the era of big hair styles. This expose exposed little which hasn't already been exposed. The soundtrack qualifies as something of a consolation. The problem with "Rock Star" is it is just too upbeat. The performers are more interesting than their roles. Ultimately, director Stephen Herek's sense of style helps to make "Rock Star" palatable.