About as edgy as a Jonas Brothers concert, this harmless homage to ’80s hair bands and 21st-century emo teenyboppers is wholesome in its debauchery and good-natured in its antiauthoritarianism.
Comment
08/20/08
The Rocker (2008)
39
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:117
Fresh:46
Rotten:71
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: With a predictable and lightweight story, the earnest efforts of the cast are squandered by The Rocker's bland script.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $6,339,401
Synopsis: Slovenly drummer Robert "Fish" Fishman (THE OFFICE's Rainn Wilson) is booted out of his 1980s hair metal band, Vesuvius, right as they're signed to a big label, crushing his dreams and leading to a... [More]
Starring: Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Jeff Garlin, Teddy Geiger
Director: Peter Cattaneo, Anthony B. Richmond
Reviews for The Rocker
It's too bad the unambitious Rocker didn't give those fine performers more to do. As it is, it's only half a screenplay, and theirs is the half that's missing.
08/20/08
An innocuous late-summer entry that barely rises above the level of sitcom alternative to Olympic-coverage overload.
08/20/08
The plot is ultrapredictable, but under the gentle direction of Peter Cattaneo the movie somehow works.
08/20/08
The Rocker feels safe, a long way from the cutting edge, a PG guy in a PG-13 movie, a comedy with too much 'parental guidance' to be rock 'n' roll.
08/20/08
If this isn't the laugh riot of the year, it's still a pleasant surprise, particularly for teen audiences. And in comedy seasons like this one, that's sometimes more than enough.
08/20/08
The Rocker qualifies as a B-side, but it still makes for a passable summer single.
08/20/08
Watching Rainn Wilson gyrate in The Rocker, you can’t help wondering if Mr. Wilson is inhabiting a role that was originally turned down by Jack Black.
08/20/08
Top CriticManages to be a notably funnier than average summer comedy despite being a fairly shameless rip-off of School of Rock.
08/20/08
While nobody's expecting This Is Spinal Tap, both the audience and the cast -- which is strong all around -- deserve better than the generic script and bland direction here.
08/20/08
The cinematic equivalent of elevator music: bland, occasionally entertaining and, once it's over, utterly forgettable.
08/20/08
It sort of gurgles, with some pleasant-sounding pops here and there. But this is essentially a film that squanders a good idea by playing things too safely.
08/20/08
How much you ultimately like The Rocker will inevitably depend on how much you like Wilson. And a little goes a long way.
08/20/08
The film gets credit for heart, and a certain amount of rock 'n' roll spirit, but that's about it.
08/20/08
You want to like almost everyone in this film, but they're all undone by a weak script that really wasn't worth more than a Gilmore Girls subplot after all.
08/20/08
Tuneless execution, with flat writing and inharmonious direction as noticeable as Motley Crue's eyeliner. Or Whitesnake's snakeskin pants.
08/20/08
It can be hard to explain what makes a star, but it's fairly easy to identify a performer who doesn't have that mysterious star stuff.
08/20/08
While The Rocker may be completely unoriginal and campy at times, the film still exceeds well with great laughs and a couple of one-liners I will be adding to my collection.
08/20/08
Despite its breezy quality and occasional big laugh, The Rocker just never completely clicks as A-side material.
08/20/08
No matter how much a movie tries to convince us, emo will never rock.
08/20/08
Latest News for The Rocker
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