Rock Star (2001)
by Hank Yuloff
Mark Wahlberg returns to his musical roots in an entertaining rock and roll fantasy.
As a teenage boy, you spend a good amount of time listening to the radio, banging your head up and down with the beat. Which may explain why girls are generally smarter than boys: they don't shake their heads around as much. And, if you believe in the music, then when you wish upon a star, you wish to be a Rock Star!Rock Star is the story of how the lead singer of a cover band becomes the leader of the band he idolizes when the band gets rid of its lead singer. Kind of like being able to jump into David Lee Roth's spot when Van Halen got sick of everything about him or, as occurred in real life, when Bon Scott, the lead singer for AC/DC, died suddenly and his replacement, Brian Johnson, stepped in with a voice sounding just like the original lead singer's.
In Rock Star, Mark Wahlberg is Chris Coles, the wannabe crooner who is so consumed by the desire to be so exactly and perfectly like the members of his favorite band, Steel Dragon, that he gets kicked out of his own band (which he started as a tribute to the original). This sequence is particularly funny since Coles knows everything about the band including the name of the guitar player's recently dead dog and the difference between the various printings of the group's album covers. The upside to all of this devotion is that Steel Dragon is shown a video of Coles' performing their songs, and it's almost as though they are watching a video of themselves, he is so dead on in his imitation. It so happens that Steel Dragon is looking for a new front man. Suddently Coles is flown out to Los Angeles for a tryout and, what do you know, he gets the job.
There are some excellent elements/messages in this movie, which are woven into the fabric of the script. Coles' parents are total rockers and completely support his infatuation with Steel Dragon. Soooooo different from the typical stereotypical parents in a movie like this and a complete 180 degrees from Frances McDormand's character in Almost Famous.
One of the funnier running gags is Coles' brother's infatuation with Air Supply. He's a cop and the contradiction of 'Head Knocker' vs. 'Foo Foo' bands is just too funny.
The relationship between Coles and his girlfriend (played by Jennifer Aniston of Friends) is so wonderful that you hate to see them go through the negative crap that all relationships must endure.
And I am happy to report that THE SOUNDTRACK ROCKS!!!!! There are songs by Ted Nugent, Bon Jovi and KISS, as well as a wealth of original Steel Dragon tunes sung by Mike Matijevic (of Steelheart) and Jeff Scott Soto. Wahlberg used to sing as rapper Marky Mark, but didn't do any of the vocals for the movie. And it was very cool to see Jason Bonham - son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham - as Steel Dragon's drummer.
I have a couple of nitpicky things to mention, although they may be totally my perception. First, at 5'9" Wahlberg seems a bit too much like Prince to be a heavy metal rocker. There are several times when his character is standing next to other people and he just looks too small. Its funny, I complained about the very same thing in the opposite way in Rush Hour 2, so don't let this influence your thoughts! The other thing that may be distracting for Los Angeles watchers is that director Stephen Herek (101 Dalmatians, Holy Man, Cheaters) used the exterior and interior of the LA Sports Arena to represent arenas in 4 different cities. Sorry, lighting it in a different way just doesn't change the ugliness of that building. Oh, and the stage looked much too much like Queen's 1982 tour and was very distracting.
The manner in which writer John Stockwell (scripts:Cheaters, actor: Christine, Top Gun) gets us to the conclusion of his story is very clever, although totally unbelievable. I also wanted to mention that the movie begins and ends with very brief clips presented in documentary style that is never fully utilized and has a very uncomfortable feel. This seems to have been done for convenience, almost as an afterthought.
All in all, Rock Star is sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It is like watching Almost Famous from a different character's point of view. Except for the first 15 minutes, it isn't as funny as Spinal Tap, but it is completely entertaining and worth the price of the ticket, corn and soft drink.
Hank Yuloff owns an advertising company in Los Angeles where he is still recovering from his long time job as a ticket broker, having to answer that he has no idea WHEN Led Zeppelin is coming back in concert.
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