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In the summer break from the TV series “The Office,” actor Rainn Wilson took up a project designed for the silver screen, the rock-sophomoric movie directed by Peter Cattaneo, “The Rocker.”
Wilson plays Robert Fishman, a.k.a. Fish, a 41-year old man still living his adolescence. From the first moments of the movie, we find out that Fish was part of a heavy metal group, Vesuvius. His band colleagues kick him out off the project, thus accepting the offer of a record company to make them famous if the executive’s nephew steps in his shoes. Fish cannot overcome the phase and 20 years after the incident, he is living in his sister’s attic, still dreaming about rock glory.
But he himself is offered a tempting proposal. His nephew invites him to substitute the drummer of their teenage rock band, A.D.D. The group has its biggest opportunity since the beginning of its existence: to play at the prom. Fish’s immaturity proves to be an important advantage and accepts the offer. He joins his guitarist nephew Matt (Josh Gad), lead singer Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and bassist Amelia (Emma Stone) in A.D.D.
Uncle Fish has his old habits inherited from his years of glory, like the lucky pocket full of puke, grossing both his band fellows and viewers alike (at least, the band members were in reality prepared for that, moviegoers might be eating popcorn). Though the prom performance was not lucky, he remains a part of the band, as he promises to get them in a genuine club gig.
If “The Rocker” is a teenage movie, then we should expect some hi-tech stunts; therefore we have the band practicing via Webcam. Fish’s nude drum performance leaks to YouTube; however, that pocket full of puke lucky charm seems to have worked eventually. “The Naked Drummer” clips become so popular, that A.D.D. is proposed to sign with Matchbox Records (which is exactly the same record label under whose signature Vesuvius became a hit group).
A.D.D.’s youngest members obtain their parents okays to hit the road; Vesuvius and A.D.D. confront; Fish falls for Curtis’ mom (Christina Applegate), etc, etc. The movie is entertaining if you’re 11 or an irrecoverable immature teenager of 41. Or you’re one of Geiger’s girl fans (but that probably includes in the 11-year old age category, anyway).
As the singer/actor himself highlighted, A.D.D.’s music is not the kind of music a teenager with rock claims would enjoy. “A lot of the melodies are melodies I wouldn't necessarily sing; they're counterintuitive to the way I would sing them. [But] I haven't really done a lot of singing of other people's material -- it helped me grow a little bit,” the 19-year old said.
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