OK movie, crappy music

Rating: 5/10 (25 November 2009)

I was interested in this movie because of the musical aspects. I thought that it would be another comedy with heart like 40-Year Old Virgin or Superbad.
Well, it is that partially. It's certainly funny in places. The acting overall is OK, nobody was terrible, but all the teenage actors really need to work on their chops, especially Teddy Geiger. Rainn Wilson is hilarious. He actually mimes the drums pretty well. I wonder if he actually plays, but who knows.
As for the music. It's terrible! The same lame whiny emo crapola that attempts to be rock, and in fact steals many moves and conventions from rock, but is not now, nor will never be rock. And not to offend any hardcore emo fans who will endlessly debate with me over the differences between underground emo and commercial emo. Frankly, it all sounds like whiny crap, and that's my opinion on that, now back to the movie review.
The songs that the whiny b--ch Curtis come up with want to make me cringe. So your dad left you, get over it! Granted I'm not a child of divorce, but I've had my fair share of problems in my life. As a musician, it feels like a cop-out to base your entire repertoire on one subject and one emotion, in this case, sadness (Linkin Park, I'm talking to you!!!). The fact that the band got as famous as they did in the film astounded me. There are literally a million bands that sound like that today! Geez, can't somebody in their garage come up with a decent racket these days? Nope. And this movie is the nail in the coffin.
Actually, it's amazing how many parallels this film draws between hair metal and emo. Both styles are both painfully simple and highly self indulgent.
Anyway, if you like music-related comedies. Go for it. But stay away from the music, unless you go for that emo crap, in which case I'd recommend a psychiatrist.