A Movie For The Greatest Band in the World

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2007)

Young Jack Black leaves home to start a career in rock. He meets Kyle Gass, and together they go in search of the Pick of Destiny, a legendary guitar pick that allowed rock stars to play the greatest songs in the history of music. But someone else also wants the pick: Satan.
This film has one major flaw: much of it is just a rehash of past songs, music videos and the television show. Dave Grohl has already appeared as Satan, Sasquatch (played by John C. Reilly) has already been their drummer, they found silver-striped mushrooms in "Jesus Ranch"... so the writing of this film probably only took about twenty minutes, which is sad because it showed up about five years after the peak of their popularity. Can I blame director Liam Lynch ("Sifl and Olly", "Jesus is Magic")? Maybe not...
Disregarding that flaw, I really loved this. There were some stupid parts, but the film worked well as a musical and the tunes kept the plot flowing smoothly. I already thought I fell in love with it after the first five minutes: Meat Loaf as Jack Black's religious father (perfect), a kid who looks exactly like Black playing him as a youngster (perfect), and then the arrival of Dio (more perfect than perfect). Throw in Tim Robbins later (one of the greatest actors of my our time) and you have a real winner in the cameo department (did I mention Ben Stiller or Amy Poehler or Colin Hanks?).
If you don't like Tenacious D, you might not like the humor of this film. I really can't say, as I already really enjoy the music of the D. Not sure I think Jack Black is a great actor (he's a bit obnoxious), but I can't deny he plays a fairly accurate Jack Black...
If you are a fan, or are willing to be, give this one a try. Unless you have an absolute hatred for the D, I think you'll like it. I was sober and I liked it. At least, I think I was sober. Anyway, it's a million times better than "Envy" (which I just reviewed), so if you liked that, this is liable to rock your flipping socks off.