Dr. Venkman Reviews: 'The Rocker'

So today I went out with my wife and saw ‘The Rocker' because I was in the mood for a comedy. The Rocker rocked as hard as it could but in the end it was a mediocre comedy made for a younger teenage audience. It had it's moment s and there were a few times that I laughed in the movie, but it just didn't deliver the punch I thought it was going to.



The Rocker follows a rock and roll drummer tyrant named Fish who is a product of the 80's hair bands. It tells the story of how is was dumped by his other band members in the 80's right before they made it big, and its not because he was a terrible drummer it's because the President of label that signed the band wanted one of his relatives to take his place. 20 years later the band he played with in the 80's is incredibly successful and it is being shoved in his face everywhere he goes. I can see how this could be crazy frustrating. While he is living in his sister's attic his nephew ask him if he would like to play in his band for Prom. This brings the spark back into his life and he is once again ready to rock n' roll. Fish gets his second chance at rock fame as he helps bring his nephews band into the limelight.



One of my favorite parts of the movie takes place at the very beginning right after he finds out his band mates dumped him and he goes after them with anger and vengeance. He balls out attacks them while they are trying to outrun him in the band van. Fish is able to keep up with them with his lightning fast cartoon running skills. It is absolutely ridiculous, but funny to watch.

The acting in the movie isn't bad. I have to be honest though I thought Rainn Wilson as Fish would have been much more funny. I think Wilson is a very funny guy but it seemed that his role as Fish was just a badly written character, this was the major downfall of the film, the reason being he just wasn't as funny as I thought he would have been, but it still worked on a lower level. The movie also starred Christina Applegate, Teddy Geiger, Josh Gad, Emma Stone, Jeff Garlin, and Will Arnet. All in all everyone did a great job with the characters that were written for the film.



Even though the writing for the film was mediocre, the one thing the movie did have that I liked was heart. The movie had a big heart, and a positive message. In the end ‘The Rocker' is a feel good movie wrapped with light silly comedy.

Here is a quick bit of movie trivia. The Rocker was loosely based on Pete Best who was the original drummer for the Beatles and can be seen at the beginning of the movie reading the Rolling Stone magazine with Vesuvius on the cover.

‘The Rocker' is worth watching, but you can wait for it to come out on DVD. Whatever you end up going to see always remember to enjoy you time at the movies.