The Rocker

I was pleasantly surprised by The Rocker, an amiable film that has a decent amount of laughs and manages to avoid cringing cliches. Directed by Peter Cattaneo, who helmed The Full Monty, both films share a measure of heart without resorting to rank sentimentality.

Rainn Wilson stars as someone with a real hard-luck story: he's a drummer in an 80s heavy metal band who is jettisoned just as his mates are signed to a label. They go on to be big stars, while he spends the next twenty years in menial jobs, stewing in bitterness. If the comparison to Pete Best, who suffered the same fate when he was fired from The Beatles, isn't apparent enough, Best makes a cameo in the film.

Wilson loses his job and his girlfriend (and therefore his domicile) in short order and moves in with his sister and her family. His nephew, a chubby nerd well played by Josh Gad, has a band that is going to play the prom, but their drummer gets grounded. Desperate, they turn to Wilson, who hasn't pounded the skins in twenty years but can't resist the chance to be on stage again. Eventually, after some false starts (and skeptical parents) the band hits the big time, sparked by an accidental YouTube video of Wilson playing the drums naked. But when they get the chance to open for the band that fired him, Wilson refuses. Will the show go on?

The film never quites reaches the promise of the set-up, in which Wilson makes a beguiling sad sack who never manages to lose his flair for rock-star life. In many ways it's similar to Jack Black's performance in School of Rock, but Wilson, with his bizarrely-shaped head and complete lack of shame, makes the part distinctive, and I laughed at the turns of slapstick, which were as simple as him banging his head on a rafter or throwing a drumstick into a crowd and smacking someone in the face. Sometimes that's all it takes.

The supporting characters are also well crafted. In addition to Gad, Teddy Geiger is the singer and songwriter, who has a Cobain-like angst, and Emma Stone has the spunky bass-player, who harbors a crush on Geiger. Also in the cast is Christina Applegate as Geiger's mother and eventually Wilson's love interest, which is a bit far-fetched. In yet another reminder that I'm getting old, it's jarring to see the actress who played Kelly Bundy now playing a MILF.