The Rocker - A Surprisingly Fun Film!

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2009)

The Rocker was surprise hit for me. I was very pleasantly surprised by how this comedy unfolded. Too often today's movies rely on huge explosive effects, or even when being sold as comedy, the film is geared towards positioning itself for an Oscar nomination. This film was "FUN", not too rough and creates an experience that is based solely on the true comedic brilliance, not only of Rainn Wilson, but the entire cast. It was parody of all things "ROCK" that is done with much less raunchy humor than expected. I rediscovered Christina Applegate in this film, one of my favorite actresses' from my youth. The four members of ADD: Rainn Wilson, Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger and Emma Stone's interaction "gelled' in a way that that was simply superb. Even the "Deus-ex- Machina" was not particularly rough by today's standards and worked beautifully to bring this story's plot to its climax. The expected meeting with its unexpected resolution between Fish and Vesuvius, along with Vesuvius' fall from the "Rock and Roll" pinnacle, then taking a similar "Rock and Roll" historical place as "Milli Vanilli" was a truly wonderful conclusion, and, in the case of Vesuvius, was much more richly deserved. This film delivered a fantastic and satisfactory conclusion to the story of Fish, Robert "Fish" Fishman! This movie also was and is a wealth of memorable one liner's that will remain with me always. When Kim delivers the "PILTS" line to the bands truly awful manager, David Marshall, her delivery and subsequent giggle had me rolling on the floor for 5 minutes. I have read other reviews that knocked the music, but to me that was part of the point of the movie, it had a Rock legend band, Vesuvius ala' "Whitesnake" or even a better analogy, IMHO, "Ratt"! And a new and upcoming band "A.D.D.". This is an apples and oranges comparison, it's like comparing Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac. This supposed to be a new sound from a new generation of musicians, e.g. if you're looking to hear "Led Zeppelin", then play "Led Zeppelin", not "Fleetwood Mac", but don't waste your time knocking, the other band, because everyone is different, and we all have different musical tastes! I personally liked the music from "A.D.D.", and that's my choice. Director Peter Cattaneo delivered a story that is brilliant. I had not seen one of his films since "The Full Monty", but just like that movie he created a masterpiece that just is not fully appreciated by the general public. His talent is rare. He has the ability to take what could be pure filth, keep it hilariously funny and create a movie, which could be X and becomes PG, without losing any humor, and in fact enhancing it dramatically. For me, this film is far and away the best comedic film that I have seen in 5 or 10 years, and I am going to buy a copy today. There are some films, that for each of us, we can put in the player and watch over and over again and we never really get tired of them. For me "The Rocker" is one of those films! To me, for me, this is a 10 star Film!