So Rock of Ages huh?
My wife and I watched this movie the other night. Let me say first off that I am well aware that Jukebox musicals rather famously get a thrashing at the box office, but I actually liked this one.
What is a Jukebox musical you ask? It’s a musical that incorperates recognizable songs and artists in it’s score and uses them to further the plot, but has very little in the way of originality when it comes to it’s own score.
So the big question is, can this work? Well in my opinion, YES!
I mean if you compare this movie to other musicals of the same ilk, say Moulin Rouge, it’s pretty much the same formula: Recognizable music + Flashy sets + arguably a lacking storyline = A working musical.
Again, there is nothing wrong with this, it’s just not a movie you want to watch if you’re looking for an indepth story. The characters are stale and show no real dynamics to speak of. They’re your basic cookie cutter boy meets girl characters. The two leads really don’t contribute much of anything other than furthering what little plot their is for the sake of… keeping the movie going?
That said, the supporting cast members were good… for the most part. Tom Cruise plays a coked out dillusional rocker a little TOO well. Almost like he’s acting from experience… hmm… Oh well, that’s an argument for another day.
Paul Giamati playing one of the two ‘villains’ in this movie did a pretty good job as a cynical rockstar agent. It’s believable in that I’d believe that’s the type of person you’d expect an agent to be. Still it always feels like he suffers from the John Wayne syndrome… which basically means when Giamati get’s a role, he doesn’t play a character, he plays himself if he were in that role. In other words, the character is Paul Giamati if he were a rock agent. There really isn’t anything wrong with that, it’s just worth noting that you’re going to see a similar performance from him in pretty much every movie. It doesn’t make him a bad actor.
Alec Baldwin as the club owner… what can I say about this guy? I loved the character… Alec Baldwin, he’s a filthy liberal, but I love his acting. I felt his character really brought a comedic flair to the movie. He really felt like the guy who spent years burning brain cells on drugs and rock, and now is holding on to sanity by a thread… but they really should have kept him away from the Mic… he can’t sing.
Mary J Bligh, when I first heard she was going to be in this movie, I’m like… what’s a soul singer doing in a movie about classic rock? But to be honest, her character fit the mentor role pretty well.
Catherine Zeta Jones… eh… I’m going to chalk her up to bad story writing. Her character was as dynamic as anyone get’s. Oh I hate him because of something I did when I was younger, oh he remembers my name, so now I’m going to change my neo facist christian outlook and rerealize my groupie status… UGH!!! Talk about a quick turnover. Moving on…
So the question is, if the story is so basic and stale, why do I like this movie? Honestly, the same reason anyone loves a Jukebox musical; The sets are visually stunning, the costumes are well done, and the music… oh man… The music was incredibly well done. I know going into a classic rock show, many people expect the songs to be absolutely butchered, but to be honest, they were very well done, and I loved the way they meshed some of them together. Just Like Paradise by David Lee Roth being mixed with Nothing but a Good Time by Poison was absolutely brilliant and meshed very well. Though this movie had no real original music to speak of, it did require composition work just to get these songs to mesh well together, which is not an easy thing to do.
So in the end, the story really sucked, but it was pleasing both visually and audibly and in the end, that’s all movies like this really set out to do. So if you’re looking for a light-hearted flick that will make you smile and tap your foot, this movie does that splendidly. Give it a watch if you get the oppertunity.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1336608/