Directed by Peter Cattaneo. Starring Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger, Jane Lynch, Emma Stone 12A cert, gen release, 102 min
THIS IS A film about a man who had a great success many years ago and who now, following a period in obscurity, is offered one more chance to hog the limelight. Welcome back, Peter Cattaneo. The director of The Full Monty has made only one film (the so-so Lucky Break) since that triumph, and he must be hoping that The Rocker will help rehabilitate his reputation. Some chance.
It's not a bad film, exactly. Rainn Wilson (from the American version of The Office) is both seedy and charming as a retired heavy metal drummer enjoying belated fame with a zippy pop-rock band. In an era of cruel comedy, the piece has a reassuring generosity to it that sends you home with a relaxed smile. But it is dangerously short of decent jokes. Indeed, The closing credits of This Is Spinal Tap generate more hearty laughs than all 105 minutes of this unexpectedly wholesome entertainment.
The Rocker begins in the 1980s, with Wilson's Robert "Fish" Fishman being fired from an up-and-coming poodle rock band named Vesuvius. Twenty years later, Fish, now in telesales, is living in his sister's attic and Vesuvius are multimillionaires with puzzling English accents.
Unexpectedly drafted into his nephew's band, our hero gains accidental notoriety when footage of him playing the drums in the nude hits the internet. The parents of Fish's new band members are, at first, concerned by the dangers of fame. But, when the lead singer's mom (Christina Applegate, always welcome) ventures on tour, she realises that - to paraphrase The Who - the kids (and Fish) are all right. It's all good clean fun backstage at the Cleveland Astoria.
There's the problem. The film's version of the rock lifestyle is so sanitised it loses all danger. Fish (a role made for Jack Black) is a big pussycat, and the young musicians care more for music than depravity.
Heck, if an earlier film by Cattaneo is to be believed, you encountered more debauchery among the ex-miners of South Yorkshire.
