Review of Rock Star (2001) by James S — 09 Aug 2009

Ah, the land of 80's hair metal. Set in the era before the world went grunge, Rock Star is a decent piece of fluff, painting what is supposed to be a none too flattering picture about the price of fame but actually makes it looks like quite good fun......but you will have to break up with Jennifer Aniston.

Mark Whalberg ditches the funky bunch for a pair of leather pants as the tribute act front man plucked from obscurity to sing for his favourite band, Steel Dragon. Of course it's not long before friendships falter, life on the road gets a bit too much and fame is not all it turns out to be.

Whalberg and Aniston make for a good screen couple and both of them carry their roles well. Timothy Olyphant is wasted with his small role and the rest of the cast are rather non-descript save for Timothy Spall as Steel Dragon's lecherous road manager in what turns out to be a rather revealing role rather than played for laughs.

Rock Star's main achievement though lies in it's portrayal of a time when music didn't take itself too seriously and there was no such thing as too much of anything. There are some cracking 80's metal tunes stuffed in along the way and the whole thing is played nicely tongue in cheek so that like the era it concerns itself with, the film never takes itself too seriously either.

An above average soap opera style drama, there's even a great Behind The Music style interview segment at the end, Rock Star might not totally rock out all the way up to 11 but it hits a 5 or 6 certainly.