Rainn Wilson rocks out in
”
The Rocker
”
Starring Rainn Wilson, Emma Stone and Teddy Geiger
This weekend, I watched
”
The Rocker
”
on Blu-ray. It was one of those movies I skipped in the theater
because I knew it probably wasn’t going to be very good, and the
only reason it ended up at the house is because someone else added
it to the Netflix queue.
Rainn Wilson rocks out in “The Rocker”
Starring Rainn Wilson, Emma Stone and Teddy Geiger
This weekend, I watched “The Rocker” on Blu-ray. It was one of those movies I skipped in the theater because I knew it probably wasn’t going to be very good, and the only reason it ended up at the house is because someone else added it to the Netflix queue.
When it comes to movies, I can usually predict which ones are going to just be really bad, but that doesn’t always keep me from watching them anyway in the hope that I might find something entertaining in them. It’s a little bit like hanging out with an ex-boyfriend. It’s probably a bad idea, but there is that 1 percent chance it might work out, right?
At least with the movies, there is a higher rate of success that it might at least offer a few entertaining moments.
The only reason I watched “The Rocker” is because Rainn Wilson plays the lead role of Robert “Fish” Fishman. Fish is a former heavy metal drummer who has spent 20 years working in a call center while his former band mates have risen to the top of the charts over and over again. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, Wilson plays Dwight Schrute in “The Office” and he brings the same insane intensity with him to the movie. He’s just obsessed about rocking out now instead of about paper. Though the new role isn’t much of a stretch from what people get out of Wilson each week on NBC, it works in the movie.
In the movie, Fish finds himself fired from his job in the call center and kicked out by his girlfriend after he goes ballistic when his former band members release yet another CD. The thing with Fish is that he wasn’t thrown out of the band because he wasn’t any good – he lost the gig to nepotism when the recording studio exec swapped him out for a relative. Fish has never gotten over the betrayal by his band mates who chose a swift rise to fame over loyalty to their drummer.
Fish moves in with his sister and spends most of his time sleeping in the attic. His nephew Matt (Josh Gad) is in a band that has a gig at the prom, but their drummer gets himself grounded. Matt suggests to his fellow band mates Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and Amelia (Emma Stone) that they ask his uncle to be their drummer for the night.
Everything goes well at the prom, until an overzealous Fish decides to do an impromptu, high-speed drum solo in the middle of the slow song “In Your Eyes.” He is quickly kicked out of the band by lead singer Curtis, who looks a lot like a brooding teenage Jake Gyllenhaal.
To get back in good with the band, Fish offers to make them a demo tape and get them a real gig somewhere. When he runs into Curtis at a coffee shop, he persuades the teen to share some of his lyrics and encourages him to keep writing. Fish and Curtis bond during a car ride around Cleveland, where they live, while listening to the band’s demo tape.
When a video of the band’s rehearsal featuring an unclad Fish makes its way to YouTube, the mostly teen sensations find their fame suddenly on the rise. It could almost be the same story told in 1996’s “That Thing You Do!” about a fictitious Pennsylvania band that gets an unexpected No. 1 on the charts in 1964. But this retelling is a lot funnier. The band has its ups and downs. Amelia struggles with makeup artists who want to make her look like someone else; Matt finds his first groupie; and they all end up in jail because Fish trashes a hotel room.
The movie is predictable. I know who Fish’s love interest will be the first second she hits the screen; I know who Curtis likes and who Amelia likes; and I know when Fish is faced with a choice between holding onto this grudge against his old band and giving his new band the chance of a lifetime, he will make the right choice. But it’s got enough laughs to make it worthwhile.
