The Rocker

Rating:

* * *

Verdict:

Formulaic but amusing laugh at metal - tolerable for the whole family.

Anyone who finds 80s' metal cliches amusing will get a laugh out of this family comedy's mix of

Spinal Tap

,

The School of Rock

and Will Ferrell's  style of juvenile humour.

Robert "Fish" Fishman (

The Office's

Rainn Wilson) has long given up any hope of being a rock god, but hasn't let go any of the bitterness he feels towards his friends after they ousted him as drummer from their band Vesuvius. Vesuvius has gone on to be one of the biggest bands in the world, while Fish has gone on to achieve, well, not much.

Struggling to hold down a job, a girlfriend and refusing to grow up and act like an adult, Fish is now living in his stroppy sister's attic.

The Rocker

is all about second chances, and Fish's second chance comes when his teenage nephew (Josh Gad) needs a drummer for his emo band A.D.D. The gig they have lined up is the school prom, and things don't go terribly well thanks to Fish's over-enthusiasm. But they let Fish stay in the band as long as he finds them some gigs. Thanks to the power of the internet, things heat up fast for A.D.D and before they know it, the kids and their immature drummer, still embarrassingly stuck in an earlier decade, have hit the road.

This is pretty formulaic stuff from

The Full Monty

director Peter Cattaneo, but there are enough one-liners to make the film funny and Wilson is more than dedicated to his role.

With the dark and brooding lead singer Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and foxy bassist Amelia (Emma Stone) there's plenty of eye candy for the teenagers, and with a handful of just-tolerable emo-lite tracks, you can forgive

The Rocker

for  its cheesy Hollywood ending. The kids should love it.

Francesca Rudkin

Cast:

Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger, Jane Lynch, Emma Stone

Director:

Peter Cattaneo

Running Time:

102 mins

Rating:

M (sexual references)

Screening:

SkyCity, Hoyts, Berkeley Cinemas