The Rocker: a.k.a. “School of Rock” Part 2

School of Rock fans rejoice, your spiritual sequel has arrived! No longer content to be known only as beloved toady Dwight from NBC’s The Office, Rainn Wilson is poised to gain solo stardom in The Rocker, the funny and surprisingly warm tale of Robert “Fish” Fishman, a heavy metal drummer who hits 20 years of rock bottom after being kicked out of Vesuvius, the Poison/Whitesnake/Quiet Riot/etc.-esque band he helped create. Cut to present day– Fish is working a dead end job, eternally envious of his ex-band’s enduring success to the point of amusingly violent rage. Fired and subsequently shunned by his girlfriend (Jane Krakowski, only one among a small bevy of 30 Rock-ers who show up), Fish sinks to the point of rooming in his sister’s attic only to stumble into a YouTube fueled wave of success as a reluctant member of his nephew’s garage band “A.D.D.”. His hard partying, hotel room trashing ways chafe against his teenage bandmates’ “do it for the love of music” aesthetic, but before you can say “HELLO, CLEVELAND!” he’s teaching them a little bit about life and they’re teaching him a little bit about responsibility.

If at this point you’re thinking “by Christ, this movie sounds like a wretched slice of cliched claptrap”, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong, but know that, much like the aforementioned School of Rock, The Rocker truly manages to distinguish itself on the quality of its writing and performances, especially Wilson’s. I’m pretty sure that I could just watch two hours of Rainn Wilson making crazy faces and showing off his clearly well researched and polished drumming skills and I’d be a happy man. Fortunately, seasoned TV writers Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky use his inherently goofy physicality to channel plenty of choice musings and one-liners. And they share the witticism lovin’ with the rest of the cast including the always great Jane Lynch (Best in Show, Talladega Nights) as Fish’s tough love sis, Christina Applegate as the lead singer’s milf, and SNL’s Jason Sudeikis as an oily record label rep prone to tasteful observations such as “that was so good John Lennon is rolling over in his grave to hide the giant boner you just gave him!” Also notable is the quality of original songs written for A.D.D. to perform in the movie, all of which sound like radio ready pop-rock hits. Some of the thanks for that ought to be given to singer/musician Teddy Geiger (maker of 2006 hit single “For You I Will”) who adds extra credibility to all performance scenes in his role as lead singer.

While not every single joke is a winner, and anyone with a familiarity for underdog comedies could map out the plot from start to finish inside 15 minutes, The Rocker will make you laugh loudly, smile broadly, and unlike this summer’s other comedy about a man-child with a drum set fixation (*cough* Step Brothers *cough*) this one won’t make you feel dead inside.