Is 'The Rocker' Bumbling Twattery Even Jack Black Wouldn't Touch?

"Watching Rainn Wilson gyrate through the motions of being a rock ’n’ roll wild man in the middling comedy 'The Rocker,' you can’t help wondering if Mr. Wilson (from “The Office”) is inhabiting a role that was originally turned down by Jack Black," writes the New York Times to lead off their review of the Fox Atomic film. Can we get an ouch?

"The Rocker" sits an unflattering 35% rating at Rotten Tomatoes currenly. We can't say we're totally surprised. The film comes out this weekend (August 22) and will probably need all the help it can get to make a cultural dent, let alone a box-office one. The guys at Film School Rejects liked the film, but umm, well, you can read the title of their site.
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Teddy Geiger Scores 'The Rocker'; Unloved Rainn Wilson Film Dumped Once Again...

How bad can Rainn Wilson's "The Rocker" be? That's a bad question to ask of us, as we hate his shtick and wouldn't be caught dead paying for one of his films. But what about you, the undiscerning public that won't mind chomping away at nachos while guffawing along to all his stupid corny jokes?

For one it's been pushed back AGAIN. First it was due in the spring, then it was scheduled for the beginning of August and now it's been dumped to late August, again. Is this the most unloved film of 2008? In May, the official site for this thing still read "coming spring 2008!" (it had already been pushed to the summer at that point). Now the film's website is in such disrepair (it's basically broken) it's like they gave up, threw their hands in the and air and said, "fuck it."

The other thing that we didn't realize is that milquetoast Buffalo singer/songwriter wuss Teddy Geiger is part of the film's cast and he wrote much of the soundtrack and rock songs in the film which features a cover of Poison's "Nothin' But A Good Time" (which you can hear below). The soundtrack, which comes out July 22, also features tracks by Vesuvius, the fake '80s band that Wilson's character was once in (written by the film's score composer Chad Fischer and some of his buddies).

This chuckleheaded conceit centers on a failed, over-the-hill drummer (Wilson) who, 20 years after getting booted out of his now uber-famous band, gets a second chance at fame with a new act, a high school garage band headed by his nephew (Josh Gad). It also stars name brand actress Christina Applegate and poor, cute little actress Emma Stone (get a new agent m'dear!). Never has a studio (Fox Atomic) seemingly cared less. Remember the ill-fated movie "Rock Star," with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston based on the Judas Priest story when Rob Halford left the band and a Priest cover band singer joined the band in his stead? Umm, yeah. Hollywood needs to remember rock movies about nobodies generally never work.


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'The Rocker' Trailer: 'School Of Rock' For Slightly Older Kids? We Hate You Rainn Wilson

We don't have a lot to add. We haaaate Rainn Wilson. Dude is an insufferable one-trick-pony who does the same bit over and over again (see "The Office," "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," and "Juno" which he almost help ruin). "The Rocker" stars Rainn Wilson and Christina Applegate, but curiously enough she's hardly (or not even in?) this trailer.

Remember the endearing "School of Rock"? If that was PG-13 audiences. This is one is for, uhhh... PG 15 ones (slightly older kids) and stoners that will laugh at fucking anything. Ok, we'll admit, there's some marginally funny bits in the trailer, but Wilson will surely ruin the movie with his tired shtick. On the plus side it does feature cute Emma Stone from "Superbad," but keep in mind: this film was completed ages ago. The official site for this thing (which still reads "coming spring 2008!") was up at least six months ago, which means it had a release date long ago, a site was prepped and the date got pushed - which is never a good sign (we featured it in our spring movie preview, cause at one point it was coming out in April - now it's fucking August!)

Oh yeah, "the plot." Rainn Wilson plays a retard, older drummer who gets one last shot at fame when he gets to play drums in a high school prom band (can you hear our eyes rolling from there?).
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'Once' Team Performing At The Independent Spirit Awards

The songwriters of the indie-hit "Once," Glen Hansard (of musical group The Frames) and Marketa Irglova, will be performing live during the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards. The event which takes place on Saturday, February 23 is unfortunatley hosted by insufferable one-trick-pony comedian Rainn Wilson, but the good news is that the Spirited Awards was granted a waiver by the Writer’s Guild of America back in December (the WGA likes them indies) so the show was written well in advance and won't be rushed out the doors like the Oscars.

What does that mean? It will be slightly less annoying then most awards shows this year. No other performers have been announced and its doubtful there will be any others as their is no musical category for the Spirit Awards, and this performance is more a courtesy being that the film is made in the, ahem... spirit of the indie award show.

If all goes well with the last-minute Oscar show that's being produced, we should see Marketa and Hansard perform "Falling Slowly" from the "Once" film as it is nominated for Best Original Song. You can safely bet the same song will be performed at the ISAs.

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