‘Rock Star’ a painful, misguided attempt
By Sacralicious

Originally published in The Crescent on September 14, 2001

Misguided and confused, if “Rock Star” were a person, it would be a 15-year-old boy who is unsure about his future and is wondering if he might be gay.

This movie simply does not know what it wants to be. There are moments when it tries to be poignant about the corrupt and morally bankrupt world that is rock music.

Then there are other times where it seems to be a zany comedy about an idiot who, through the world’s biggest case of dumb luck, gets his dream job.

Mark Wahlberg plays Chris Cole, a copy machine repairman and lead singer in a Steel Dragon tribute band. Steel Dragon is his obsession. He owns the clothing, has the autographed albums and every song his band plays has to sound exactly like it did on the album.

Eventually, the band gets tired of playing only Steel Dragon songs. They want to branch out and play original music. Chris refuses to change, so he’s kicked out of the band.

The next day Chris gets a phone call; it seems that Steel Dragon needs a new lead singer and they have chosen him as the replacement. He and his girlfriend, Emily (Jennifer Aniston), fly out to Los Angeles and, thanks to that dumb luck, he becomes the new lead singer for Steel Dragon.

Once he joins Steel Dragon, the movie seems to fall apart. There are too many comedic scenes — both intentional and unintentional — and the movie simply becomes a string of rock cliches.

Casting is also a big problem. Wahlberg just doesn’t look comfortable on the screen as a lead. It is obvious he has a limited dramatic range. He can act confused, angry or stupid, but that’s it.

And after seeing Jennifer Aniston on “Friends” for eight years, it is getting increasingly difficult to believe her playing a 24 year old.

There is a funny scene in which her character is in the back of a limo with the wives of the other members of Steel Dragon. They tell her what will happen now that Chris is a star and how she should expect him to cheat on her.

In response she said she hoped she would not be as cynical as the other wife when she reached the woman’s age. This line would have fit just fine if it weren’t directed at a woman who looks at least six years younger than Aniston.

At its heart, this movie is poorly written. It’s a jumble of cliches, generic life lessons and melodrama. Also, the topic seemed too broad and it shows. The film tries to tell almost four years of storyline in a feature length movie. The story needed more focus.

Instead, we get a generic story ripped right out of VH-1’s “Behind the Music” and an ending so ridiculous it is painful for me to even think about it.