The year is 1983. Suddenly a bright light shoots through the fog covered stage. As the light shines through the fog we see Vesuvius performing one of their last small club shows before they get signed to a big record company.
After the show, the band is met by their manager and informed that a major record company called Matchbox Records wants to sign them. However, in order to get the record deal of a lifetime, Vesuvius must desert their drummer Robert “Fish” Fishman (Rainn Wilson). At first the band is resistant to turn on one of their members, but with a little persuasion they give in.
25 years later finds Fish living an average-joe life, while the members of Vesuvius experience vast success and are about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Suddenly, Fish’s boring life plummets out of control when he is fired from his job and his girlfriend breaks up with him.
Down on his luck, he moves in with his sister and her family and reminisces daily about the huge successful career he almost had.
Meanwhile, his nephew, Matt, is in desperate need of a drummer to play with his band at their high school prom. Initially Fish says no, refusing to ever play the drums again. But, he eventually warms up to the idea and becomes excited about playing in the garage band.
After an embarrassing mishap at the prom, Fish decides he can make it up to the band by swearing that he can find a club that will want them to play. With much work he eventually gets a gig for them, which falls apart when the band gets arrested for ‘borrowing” Matt’s parent’s mini-van.
Because of the incident, the teenagers are grounded and Fish is asked to leave his sister’s house. So in order for the band to practice, Matt links computers via Web-cam for the members. However, the technologically-challenged Fish mistakes the camera for a microphone. Under the misconception that he is living in the privacy of his own home, now a Japanese fast-food restaurant basement he decides to practice, um, minus his clothes, to escape the heat of the boiler.
While the utter shock and disgust of the other band members is funny to watch, Fish’s backside gets way too much airtime on the big screen, and the scene goes from funny and disgusting to just plain nasty in short order.
As the band is practicing, Matt?s little sister stumbles across the video which she posts on You Tube. The video became an instant hit, and before the band knows anything they are being offered a record contract by none other than Matchbox Records.
After seeing many trailers and clips of The Rocker, I have to say that it lived up to my expectations. Wilson’s prior acting in the show, The Office, is what initially persuaded me to go see this movie, and his role suits the movie extremely well.
While the movie is very entertaining, it is hard not to watch and question the realism of what is occurring. In a matter of a few short months the band went from playing a high school prom to having top ten singles, a tour, and opening for the mighty Vesuvius.
Aside from the obvious plot flaws, the movie is very entertaining and Wilson’s acting shines despite the fact that this is his first lead role. The few hours in the theater provided numerous laughs.
Producers Shawn Levy and Tom McNulty did an excellent job of casting the movie, and the actors portrayed the characters excellently. The acting really made this movie, and was better than I expected. Wilson’s quirkiness suited the character well and greatly complimented the movie.
The Rocker is rated PG-13 for drug and sexual references, nudity and language, so parents should be cautioned. The Rocker is now playing nationwide.Rober
