Rock of Ages

A small town girl and a city boy meet on the Sunset Strip, fall in love and pursue their dreams of rock and roll fame. A famous rock star fights the demons of what he's become with the help of his scumbag manager. And a historic rock bar fights bankruptcy and  public ridicule by the conservative Mayor's wife. All three storylines intertwine in an 80's montage of classic rock hits.

Cast

Diego Boneta as Drew Boley
Julianne Hough as Sherrie Christian
Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx
Russell Brand as Lonny Barnett, the manager of The Bourbon Room
Paul Giamatti as Paul Gill, Stacee's manipulative manager
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Patricia Whitmore
Mary J. Blige as Justice Charlier, the owner of The Venus Club
Malin Åkerman as Constance Sack, a Rolling Stone reporter
Alec Baldwin as Dennis Dupree, the owner of The Bourbon Room
Bryan Cranston as Mike Whitmore, the Mayor of Los Angeles and Patricia's husband.

Who will like this

Fans of the Broadway show that inspired the movie will get a kick outta seeing it on the big screen, although some of the songs and storylines have changed. Anyone who is a fan of 80's hair bands will recognize the songs throughout the movie. If you're looking for an accurate depiction of what it was like to live in this time and space, you're looking at the wrong movie as this is a bubble gum, fantasy and made to be fun movie for the older teen and up crowd.

Phantom Thoughts

Rock of Ages went with the very typical, almost parody-like story of "Mid-West girl gets off the bus in the Big City and dreams of being a rock star. Meets a boy. Falls in love. Love is tested against Fame. Love endures". Mix that in with the sleazy agent only out to make a buck for himself and the Famous establishment that is in financial trouble and being targeted by the conservative political figure who SPOILER: is hiding a past of being a part of that rock community. All very played out and nothing original to see here.

But I can forgive all that in the environment of being put together in a musical with this great music. However, that was not the case. The music seemed to be shoe-horned in and forced at times to try to make it go with the story. I don't know if this was due to the changes they made from the play to the movie, but some of it just didn't fit right. They also did some mash-ups with songs which I liked and worked well together.

It was really a super clean version of the 80's. No one was smoking at all and there were no drug references anywhere to be found. This was extremely obvious when Catherine Zeta-Jones is making a speech about the evils of the Bourbon Room (an obvious reference to the Whisky a-go-go) stating the three things that it's about is "Sex, Rock 'n' Roll and........Sex!"

This is not to say that I hated the movie. It is a musical after all, and some "cleaning up" is to be expected. I think Tom Cruise did a great job as the washed up Rock and Roll Icon. He even did OK belting out the songs ("Dead or Alive" was one, which is not the easiest to sing by any stretch of the imagination.) Paul
Giamatti was excellent as the scumbag manager, but I expect nothing less from an actor of his talent. There was one plot line that I actually did NOT see coming. I will not ruin it for those who have not seen it, but it made me cringe through the entire "I can't stop this feeling" song/scene. It was disturbing on a level that made me laugh.

So for what it was, it was just "OK". The music really did save it in the end and I would probably have it on in the background of a party somewhere as subliminal entertainment. I would even watch it with some friends as an on-demand or rental, but I'm not wasting my money to see it in the theater again.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.