Rainn Wilson from the American version of The Office (TV) stars in this lovely and silly piece of rock trash. A beautiful parody with a soft heart. Wilson as Fish is hilarious. Fish is loud, gross and brutal. He is a satire of rock/metal attitude.
The movie is infinitely re-watchable. The music is cool, the satire is friendly. Glam rockers or caricatures of glam rock? They still come off as cool – and over the top, disgusting in places. The Rocker is funny all the way through, with the odd breathing-break to get deep.
These motley band of characters – the post-modern punk edgy redhead girl Amelia (Emma Stone), the brooding young male frontman Curtis (Teddy Geiger), the nerdy nice guy keyboard player Matt (Josh Gad: Keep watching this guy he's excellent - Woz from Jobs and Headphones from The Internship) and the freakish geezer Fish, the heart of the band.
Christina Applegate as Ms Powell, Curtis’ mom is effortless and funny. Curtis is awkward, heavy – the hurt and angry artist.
Fish is the driving force. Attitude of a rock star in a world well past rock stars. Fish’s sister, Lisa (Jane Lynch from Glee) is hilarious as the tough love for his man-child problem.
While the story is not particularly original, the writing is full of laughs and is both fresh and quirky.
All the kids get grounded and Fish gets kicked out of his sister’s basement for stealing the car to attempt to drive out of town for their first gig.
The band decides to practice via laptop network – like a Skype or Google hangout.
But Fish’s new pad beneath a Chinese Takeaway restaurant is stiflingly overheated. Not realising that the PC is a camera as well as a microphone, he plays the drums in the nude. The keyboard player’s little sister sees the video – and as a naughty prank, she puts the video online.
This movie has heart and a real rock soul. Fish is goofy, wears his heart on his sleeve and wants more than anything, to be a legitimate rock star. He is immature, naïve and loveable. He is sloppy, silly and brilliant at helping the littler rockers climb the ladder of rock and roll success.
This is not without its challenges. Their manager is a real nasty piece of work – intent on elbowing Fish out of the band, because he isn’t photogenic - totally missing the point of Fish, and of rock and roll. His sharp and biting insults are funny and though a villain, he is not a throw away character.
Most of the film produces a number of conservative adult sources of pressure trying to get Fish to grow up – but he only sees the negative connotations of that – which are to give up on his dream (of being a rock star – like his idols whom he never mentions, but obviously influence his attitude, persona and ambitions. Possibly clues are hidden in the soundtrack.)
He tests his body to the limits, breaking himself repeatedly in the name of rock.
There are some great moments in this movie where Fish shows how generous his heart is, and how wise without realising that he is. When the band get arrested, he gives Curtis some sage advice and a heart to heart. There is a real relationship growing there. A friendship of substance amidst the crazy of rock stardom and the struggles – of Fish’s out of work drummer, of Curtis’ emo desire to be a recognised artist.
So many funny bits in this movie – quirky characters and odd moments. With at its centre, the drama of some really strong friendships formed. The Rocker is only a silly little comedy – but it’s got a lot going for it. It’s fun to watch and has depth that is missing in a lot of little comedies of its type about the struggle for success and silly jokes.
Romance is in the air for all of our misfit characters. Eventually, Fish is forced to succumb to the conservative workforce – the Hell of a buttoned down, short hair, suit and tie, soul-crushing office job.
Without Fish, the band has no heart – and the real friendship at the heart of the story drives the band and the movie towards its climax.
Wilson is the star of this movie; all the other characters do their part. But without Fish you don’t have anything special.
3 stars
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