Rock Star is an absolute stinker.(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they've been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.) The Series: Rock Star Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max The Pitch: Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg, who found fame in hip hop as the face and shirtless body of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, returns to his musical roots in this ultimate fantasy daydream. Better yet, spend an evening reacquainting yourself with Wayne’s World or Spinal Tap. Watch the cameos on YouTube and avoid the rest like the plague. They’ll probably have Steel Dragon cover Smell The Glove as a serious love song. Don’t let the filmmakers find out about Spinal Tap. From as early as the title sequence, it’s all too obvious that Rock Star is a film made by people who appear to know very little about rock music. Just a total lack of self-awareness and a tendency to present rock’s most absurd elements as earnest storytelling.
In Rock Star, there is no equivalent to Wayne’s World’s Bohemian Rhapsody headbanging. Whisper it, but even School of Rock has its moments - the failed stage dive certainly stands out.
Because, after all, this rock‘n’roll thing is supposed to be fun, right? Putting the emphasis on likeable slackers like Bill and Ted, or geeky underdogs like Wayne and Garth. Why films like Wayne’s World, Bill & Ted and This Is Spinal Tap succeed is because of their ability to poke fun at rock’s enduring tropes, making light of them in a daft, endearing way. Having spent the past 20 years securing his position as one of rock’s leading voices today, both for his work with Alter Bridge and Slash, we know his exclamation to be correct. At the time, Kennedy - one of the industry’s nicest guys - was a relative unknown fronting The Mayfield Four.
The hysterical Mike shouts ‘dreams come true!’ before he clambers over the barrier. During which he brings Mike, a fan played by a fresh-faced Myles Kennedy (yes, the Myles Kennedy), onstage for a vocal duet. Perhaps Rock Star’s most satisfying moment comes during Cole’s final performance with Steel Dragon. The poetic justice is completely lost on him. Mere minutes later he’s shown trashing a hotel room because ‘his wife ran off with Peter Gabriel’. Zakk Wylde appears as Steel Dragon’s red-blooded lead guitarist, Ghode, though he seems to wield a loaded shotgun as often as his guitar - shooting road signs and crowing about killing things.Įlsewhere, Jason Bonham (son of Zeppelin’s John, of course) plays A.C, the band’s drummer, who advises Cole to dump Emily and ‘live the life’. As are some of the film’s cameos from real-life rock stars. An early scene depicting rival Steel Dragon tribute acts (one being Blood Pollution, Cole’s own) arguing about coloured lapels and phallic padding is entertaining. That said, he also praised Timothy Spall’s performance as Mats, who only ever comes across as a seedy pimp - invariably offering trivial, toilet wall philosophies if given enough screen time.Īlbeit rare, there is some comic relief to be had here.
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Legendary, late film critic Roger Ebert alluded to as much in his own review, saying that the movie was unconvincing in ‘the feel and the flavour of its experiences’. Cutting his hair, sticking a cardigan on and singing post-grunge, pseudo-Scott Stapp songs - because, obviously! You’re left with an indeterminate sense of what was that all for?
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Having realised that ‘the life’ is not all it’s cracked up to be, Cole quits Steel Dragon mid-tour and returns to Seattle, of all places, to form an originals band with ex-Blood Pollution bandmate Rob. Only compounding his self-fulfilling insecurities. He does eventually take lyric sheets and cassettes of his demos to the band at a recording session, but these are ridiculed and shunned outright. By the time Cole’s picked up as Steel Dragon’s frontman, it’s unclear whether he’s still fixated on being Beers - somewhat distorting the message of carving out one’s own legacy. Meanwhile, bandmate Rob astutely asks Cole if he’d rather fail as himself than succeed as a Bobby Beers clone. They’re also conflated and confused in their delivery.Ĭole’s sneering cop brother, Joe, criticises him for fantasising about being someone else as a tribute band singer. But their meanings are so bogged down by abject misogyny and irksome rock‘n’roll gimmicks that you’re not even slightly convinced. Something about following your dreams but not losing sight of the people and things that keep you whole. For its sins, Rock Star does have underlying messages.
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