The Rocker: Critic Reviews

The only brazen thing about the film is how shamelessly it rips off School of Rock.

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.

It all looks good and there's a decent cast but nothing really takes off.

Audiences would be better served staying home and playing Rock Band than wasting their time on something as leaden and unfunny as The Rocker.

If only the movie had some bite, some edge, some anger, some insight. Instead it's generic, staying far away from the darker temptations of the rock scene.

A grubby little redemption comedy that in every way feels like a consignment-shop Jack Black vehicle.

A juvenile fairy tale that plays like the pilot for a Jonas Brothers sitcom on the Disney Channel, The Rocker comes off as something penned by an old dude who hasn't bought music since it was sold 'on records.'

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.

The Rocker has the requisite vomit, the view of some very unfortunate hind quarters and the suds. It's also got a vein of sweetness and charm.

It's depressing when the best thing you can say about a comedy is that its second-rateness is pleasantly in sync with its unmagnetic hero.

The film equivalent of an inoffensive throwaway track, what we used to call a B-side, back in the days of Vesuvius.

I don't want to oversell The Rocker, but in a summer of erratic, assaultive comedies all up and down the budget scale, this Rainn Wilson vehicle -- a kind of Home School of Rock -- stakes out its own corner of the market.

The conflicts that arise are highly predictable. But there are plenty of funny moments, as well as a sweet subplot involving the unkempt drummer and the guitarist's no-nonsense mom.

Jack Black's fearless, foolish ferocity is missing.

Two great cuts don't make an album and two fine supporting performances don't make The Rocker worthwhile.

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.

How much you ultimately like The Rocker will inevitably depend on how much you like Wilson. And a little goes a long way.

[A] well-crafted, feel-good satire.

Manages to be a notably funnier than average summer comedy despite being a fairly shameless rip-off of School of Rock.

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.

The Rocker is an amiable comedy, so efficiently constructed that you can practically see the computer software on how to write comedy screenplays at work. Nonetheless it is an enjoyable construction.

The melody of The Rocker feels predictable but the beat is refreshingly off-kilter.

It's not exactly heartwarming to realize that The Rocker's Gen X fantasy of an escape from middle age is really a developmental nightmare.

This is pre-packaged entertainment, a product designed to give bored teenagers something to watch on a Friday or Saturday night when steamy summer nights are getting longer and Labor Day is just around the corner.

This satire about an aging heavy metal drummer finds a good comic rhythm.