Not brilliant but enjoyably funny

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2008)

Berated by his father over his love of rock just one time too many, JB is convinced that a vision of rock has summoned him to Hollywood. Having been to all of the Hollywood's in the US, JB finally washes up in Los Angeles where he comes across "rock God" KG playing for change on the boardwalk. Seeing the boy's adoration, KG takes JB in and teaches him the way of rock in return for chores. When it transpires that KG is far from the person he seemed to be, a friendship has been formed and the stars appear to be in alignment for them to achieve greatness. They only lack on thing  the legendary pick of destiny. And so a quest begins.
This is one of those films that, if you really get into it, you'll probably be rolling with laugher and find it a great joy from start to finish. This group is the minority of people though and the rest of us will find a comedy that is mostly amusingly silly and occasionally misfiring. It is a very fine line it walks as the genre of rock opera is a spoof in itself so really this film does feel like it is trying to spoof something that doesn't need spoofing. That said the overblown narrative and songs make for a silly and engaging comedy, with plenty of outrageous moments catching me laughing. Sadly too often the line is crossed and it spills over into the overly-silly or puerile. I was surprised by how well it walked this line because to me the trailer had made it look terrible. Watching it from the start though, it does create an atmosphere in which it does work  which it obviously never got in the trailer.
I'm not a massive fan of Jack Black but within this creation his OTT rock performance works. He will still annoy those that get annoyed by his basic performance but those people will be unlikely to enjoy any part of the film since it is entirely in his image. Of course not to take away from Glass, who is pretty much his equal here and is a bit better than Black if only because his performance is a bit more restrained. Support is mostly just a handful of fun cameos featuring Meat Loaf, Grohl, Stiller and Robins among a few others.
Overall then, this is a silly, overblown affair but it does work if you buy into it as a spoof version of a rock opera epic. It isn't as hilarious as some would have you believe but it is sporadically funny once it gets you in the mood and, while far from brilliant, it is an enjoyably silly film.