Review by Bob Ignizio
In 1980s suburban America, heavy metal was
king. Or at least a certain kind of heavy metal. The music in
question was often dismissively referred to as hair metal or glam
metal even by other, more serious headbangers, but while commercial
sounding hard rock bands of the era like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and
Poison may not have been taken seriously, they were laughing all the
way to the bank. Having a pretty killer party on the way there, too.
That all ended in the early nineties when alternative rock became the new
"in" thing, but nostalgia has a funny way of bringing things back. And
as is the case with the new film ROCK OF AGES,
it can sometimes bring them back in funny ways. Back in the 80s, if you had suggested
that one day there would be a hit Broadway musical made from hair metal's
biggest hits, you would have been laughed out of the room. Well, it happened, and now that musical has been turned into a
movie.
Sherrie
(Julianne Hough) and Drew (Diego Boneta) have both moved to L.A.
hoping to make it big with their singing talent. Instead they wind up
working at sleazy rock bar the Bourbon
Room run by Dennis Dupree's (Alec Baldwin) and his perpetually wasted assistant Lonny (Russell Brand). The club has money problems, but a farewell concert from arena
rockers Arsenal prior to their singer Stacie Jaxx (Tom Cruise) going
solo could solve everything. Sherrie and Drew are attracted to each
other, but a series of typical movie misunderstandings comes between
them. As a result, Sherrie winds up working as a stripper at the
Venus Club, owned by Justice Charlier (Mary J. Blige). Perhaps even
more degrading, Drew gets groomed for success as part of a boy band put together
by Jaxx' oily manager Paul Gill (Paul Giamatti). Meanwhile, Mayor
Whitmore (Cranston) is running for reelection, and his wife
(Catherine Zeta-Jones) is using it as a platform to protest against
rock music in general, and Stacie Jaxx in particular. Can the power
of music make everything right? What do you think.
ROCK
OF AGES
does a pretty good job depicting the fantasy that glam metal sold to
its audience, and even a little of the darker reality. Not too much
darkness, though. The narrative could use a little pruning, and the
device of blending two (or more) songs together gets used a few times
too many. The two leads are decent, but it's Cruise who really
impresses here, as he does every so often in his career just to prove
he can before going back to making MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE
sequels and jumping on couches. But seriously, he's good here, and
his singing voice is fantastic. Of course the plot is silly and
contrived; it's a musical. But whatever faults it may possess, like
the bands it draws inspiration from, ROCK
OF AGES
knows how to give an audience a good time. 3 out of 4 stars.
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