The Rocker

A whacked-out, superannuated, would-be rock star might seem to be too easy a comic target, but Wilson gives this sad sack so many fresh twists that he never wears out his welcome.

The laughs come easily and the music, with songs by the likes of Peter Gabriel as well as original material by Chad Fischner, are punchy and hummable which will make for a soundtrack album that’s almost as good as the movie itself.

It's a lot of fun. Its spirit is genuine and, even with the odd vomit gag, fundamentally sweet.

The Rocker's strength as a comedy lies in its great cast, solid writing, some poppy head-bopping tunes as well as a story full of warmth and laughs that often makes up for its sometimes predictable high concept plot.

A smart, sweet comedy with a quirky streak a mile wide, The Rocker finds director Peter Cattaneo once again exploring men and shattered dreams as The Office’s Rainn Wilson makes a bid for cinematic viability in his first starring role.

The Rocker's is no classic, but there's truth amidst the cliches and good vibrations in its modest ambitions.

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

Like Will Ferrell and Jack Black, Wilson seems willing to do anything for a laugh, especially if it involves unflattering clothing or hairstyles, partial nudity or acting like a fool.

The movie itself gains steam from the midway point on. What I admire most is Wilson's total immersion into a character that is nowhere related to his TV persona.

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.

Aside from an extended shot of Wilson's naked butt and a few rock-and-roll antics, the movie's is really good, clean fun that's fine for slightly older kids and a lot of fun for adults.

A wannabe School of Rock meets This is Spinal Tap! But The Rocker isn’t as good as its predecessors.

The film could have benefited highly from an Apatow-like quick polish to make it a little leaner, cleaner and funnier, but as is, the simple, lightweight Rocker is good enough to be one of the strongest comedies of the summer.

Heavy metal is the milieu of The Rocker, but do not let that scare you away. The movie is refreshingly audience-friendly, even for the rock-challenged and the tin-eared.

Wilson, so often the supporting character, proves he can carry a film with his mix of deadpan delivery and wild-eyed madman.

The most surprising thing about The Rocker is how enjoyable it is. The plot is ultrapredictable, but under the gentle direction of Peter Cattaneo the movie somehow works.

Another month, another movie about a petulant man-child who must learn maturity in order to realize his potential.

The Rocker is a grubby little redemption comedy that in every way feels like a consignment-shop Jack Black vehicle. It wears better on Rainn Wilson, the movie's ungainly, oft-humiliated star.

This rock music comedy does has a few chuckles and belly laughs. And unlike a few other smug, self-satisfied comedies that have come along recently, this one at least seems to have a heart at its center.

The Rocker lacks the musical credibility of a classic like This Is Spinal Tap, or even last year's underrated Walk Hard, because director Peter Cattaneo and his three writers deal in generics.

The Rocker is not designed to be anything beyond what it is: transient fun for the musically inclined. When taken at that level, it stays on rhythm and only misses a few beats.

Marlon Brando's famous line "I could have been a contender" isn't cited anywhere in The Rocker, but its sentiment -- rueful and profound -- is all over this rock-and-roll comedy about second chances.

The raucous humor of star Rainn Wilson and the sweetness of his young co-stars carry the movie farther than the material otherwise would merit.

The setup is on loan from School of Rock, a far superior fantasy about a spastic man-child driven, against all odds and common sense, to live the Axl Rose experience.

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.

Though some of the particulars have changed, the film is essentially School Of Rock II, and the comparison does The Rocker no favors.

It's a film that sometimes wants to be School of Rock, sometimes wants to be This Is Spinal Tap, but ends up more like an uninspired episode of The Partridge Family.

Some things are best enjoyed in small doses. Tabasco sauce, anchovies, moonshine, John Mayer -- the list is long. But somewhere near the top is Rainn Wilson.

Just when you think the dog days of summer movies are upon us along comes a hilarious sleeper hit that should make The Office’s Rainn Wilson a movie star as well.

The Rocker appeals to the part of you that dreams of stage diving, counting groupies and trashing hotel rooms.

The Rocker mines laughs in the potentially deep vein of jokes about an immature 40-something giving how-to-rock lectures to comparatively square teens, with Wilson in the Black-ish role of indefatigable rocker.

Hopefully, you learn that the people who put lessons into movies must be stopped!

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

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.

The only brazen thing about the film is how shamelessly it rips off School of Rock, recycling its flaky-educator loser-of-the-gods premise, only this time in high school.

While it's an amiable enough piece of fluff, The Rocker is such a slave to formula and covers so much well-trod ground that it's like listening to a needless cover song.

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.

You want to like almost everyone in this film, but they're all undone by a weak script.

Rainn Wilson may be the surest laugh-getter on The Office... but The Rocker isn't the right material to send him to the top of the charts.

Wilson is buoyed by a sporadically witty script, and while there are no surprises whatsoever in the story, his goofy, puppylike charm renders what could have been a disaster merely an unfortunate event.

As if we needed another reason to big up School of Rock, here comes The Rocker, which tries to work the same affable groove as Richard Linklater’s 2003 crowd-pleaser and comes up well short.

This is faint praise, but The Rocker isn't as bad as the trailer makes it seem. It's mild and generally mediocre enough to pass over you without inspiring hatred or irritation.

"Sweet" and "sentimental" and "rock 'n' roll" aren't meant to be used in the same sentence. But that's the road the mildly amusing comedy The Rocker travels.

The Rocker was built around Wilson’s character, and it fails grandly because of that.

The Rocker is the cinematic equivalent of elevator music: bland, occasionally entertaining and, once it's over, utterly forgettable.

It seems entirely possible that the filmmakers got their entire knowledge of rock and roll from the Guitar Hero video game, which figures prominently in the movie.

Oh, look. All these little television actors are trying to make a movie. Isn't that adorable?

The Rocker is an innocuous late-summer entry that barely rises above the level of sitcom alternative to Olympic-coverage overload.

Lightweight as cotton candy and nearly as beneficial for your brain, it is a banal concoction of hair-band gags and unconvincing romantic comedy.

Looking for something awesome, something that's totally cool? Look somewhere other than The Rocker, a mediocrity with such sleepy execution that an accurate title would be The Recliner.

The Rocker can't decide whether it's a film about a lovable loser having a midlife crisis, a racier comedy about a multi-generation rock band or a heartwarming look at second chances.

Certainly nothing this year will compete with the inexcusable The Love Guru for its sheer inability to create laughs, but The Rocker does its best to at least come close.

Once the band becomes successful, there's no conflict in the movie, so it just drifts along while we wait for another attempt to kick Rob out of his own dream.