Heavy metal
hormones

The Rocker is a sweet-natured teen
movie disguised as a rock ‘n’ roll comedy

by MALCOLM FRASER

The Office’s Rainn Wilson makes his star debut in The Rocker as a burnt-out ’80s metal drummer who’s never let go of the rock ‘n’ roll dream. But the film’s marketing is somewhat misleading—it’s not a music-biz parody à la Walk Hard or a tragicomic rock tale like the Mark Wahlberg vehicle Rock Star, but a surprisingly sweet-natured teen movie.

The movie begins in 1986, at the height of hair metal, with Wilson banging the skins for the band Vesuvius (led by Arrested Development’s Will Arnett). When the band gets signed, their cheeseball manager has Wilson replaced with a record exec’s nephew. Fast-forward to today, and Wilson is a lowly office worker, so embittered by his faded dreams that he still reacts violently to the mention of his former band and their success.

When one such outburst loses him his job and gets him kicked out of his girlfriend’s place, he moves into the attic of his sister (Jane Lynch) and her husband (Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Jeff Garlin). Their son Matt (Josh Gad) plays in a band, and when they lose their drummer just before their first gig, Wilson steps up, hoping to reclaim his past glory.

At this point, the focus of the plot shifts away from Wilson, concentrating instead on his young bandmates—chubby misfit Gad, angst-ridden singer Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and hormonal punk bassist Amelia (Emma Stone). Their travails in navigating the music business and the perils of adolescence take centre stage, with Wilson offering a stream of goofy comic relief and the occasional pearl of rock wisdom. This Degrassi-esque scenario actually works, since Wilson is more of a solid team player than a leading man.

The shameless tear-jerking and cornball plot devices that ensue are less surprising in light of director Peter Cattaneo’s track record (he brought us indie-cute sensation The Full Monty). But it’s all pulled off with aplomb, largely thanks to a great cast, including Jason Sudeikis as a sleazy A&R man and Christina Applegate, who—in a reality check for a certain generation— plays Geiger’s cougar-rific mom. The only real problem is the teen band’s songs, which dwell firmly in the whiny emo genre. But like the film itself, they’re perfectly suited to the teen generation.

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