The Rocker

Director: Peter Cattaneo

Writers: Ryan Jaffe, Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky

Starring: Rainn Wilson, Emma Stone, Christina Applegate

Released: 2008

Rainn Wilson stars as "Fish", former drummer of hair metal band Vesuvius, fired by the band in favour of a record label boss's nephew. Twenty years on, he has no job or girlfriend and has had to move in with his sister. Filling in as drummer for his nephew's band, he gets his taste back for performing.

Getting kicked out of his sister's house and moving into the basement underneath a Chinese restaurant, Fish has to practise with the rest of the band using webcams, which he does naked. The band then become unwitting internet stars, when footage of the band becomes an online hit, due in part to the naked drummer.

The band then go on tour to capitalise on their success, but things begin to get fractured; the band's manager wants rid of Fish, and wants singer/songwriter of the band Curtis to go solo. Things get worse when the manager organises an opening slot for the band with Fish's former band Vesuvius, now international megastars (who have developed English accents), which he refuses to do and quits the band. Can the band put their differences aside and get back together for their biggest gig yet?

This is a fairly enjoyable, if lightweight, music comedy. Star Rainn Wilson puts in a good performance in the main role, much needed as not too many other characters in the film get a lot of funny things to do or say, they're all there really as straight-men to Fish. That said, Rainn Wilson is a good enough comedy actor to pull it off (as anyone who's seen him as Dwight Schrute in The Office will know), but it would have made the film better to share the humour around. Only really Will Arnett (from Arrested Development), as one of his former bandmates in Vesuvius, adds anything on the comedy front. The band's music is kind of lame, being fairly generic pop punk, but at least the film uses original songs, rather than having the band perform covers of well known or hip songs.

Rating: 3/5