Review- Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

Rating: 7/10 (2 April 2017)

Review: 'Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny' A film about a band trying to become the best band ever and pay their rent by stealing a legendary guitar pick from a rock and roll museum couldn't have been done better to be honest. Starring Tenacious D', Jack Black and Kyle Gass, directed by Liam Lynch this film is about the music and the humour, the absurd plot is a testament to that. This film serves as an extremely loose origin story, I can only imagine, to the formation of the band 'Tenacious D'. Released in 2006 this is a music-comedy, adventure. JB and KG are aspiring successful musicians. When they run out of money to pay for rent they decide to enter a competition where the best band wins, but before they play they learn of the 'pick of destiny', a legendary guitar pick which is supposedly one of the devils teeth. They decide to try to steal it from a museum. Firstly Jack Black and Kyle Gass' relationship on screen is partly why the film is so good. They are so natural together. One scene that sticks out to me is toward the start of the film is when KG meets JB. KG is a very arrogant street performer at this stage while JB is innocent and acts like an absolute fanboy. KG tries to keep up an act of disinterest while JB applauds his performance. Towards the end of the scene KG flicks his pick at JB like he's god's gift to the earth. I thought this was hilarious as KG is as much of a loser as JB is at this point in the film. The music is also good being one of the main reasons to see the film. It is for the most part performed by Tenacious D themselves as you would expect. What really makes this film standout to me is the dream sequences. Like in 'The Big Lebowski' they are visually stunning, unique scenes. Without giving too much away there is one scene with an actually decent song in it and in another there is a trippy bit of Bigfoot. One thing I didn't like about this film is that halfway through it sort of has a cliché friends falling out moment which is reconciled quickly. I understand that it was to add a bit of drama but if they did it in a more creative, original way I would have appreciated it. If you do decide to see this film or if you have seen it and plan to re watch it I would recommend to look out for the cameos from Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, Dave Grohl, Meatloaf and many more. The opening of this film is probably the strongest part of the film JBs origin is too funny to miss, if you don't plan on seeing this film at least watch the opening. In conclusion the soundtrack is great, the relationship between Jack Black and Kyle Gass on screen cements the whole film together and the dream sequences are pretty cool. All in all I give it a 7/10 and would recommend it. Keep an eye out for those cameos.