The Rocker (DVD)

Robert 'Fish' Fishman was once the drummer for up and coming metal band 'Vesuvius', n the eve of them hitting the big time their manager orders them to lose Fish. Fish is promptly fired from the band and spends the next twenty years in dead end jobs while Vesuvius hit the jackpot and become one of the biggest bands in the world. After being fired from his latest job, Fish ends up in his sister's house and lives in the attic. After hearing his nephew's band playing in the garage, he's asked to stand in for their recently expelled drummer at the upcoming prom. After a disastrous performance, they persist with Fish and after a video of him drumming naked during a ...  Read the complete review

The Rocker, Peter Cattaneo's Rainn Wilson-starring comedy, bears some narrative resemblance to the director's early, vastly superior, The Full Monty, with male stripping substituted for playing in a rock band and all of the have-we-missed-our-chance angst channelled into one character - Wilson's Robert "Fish" Fishman - rather than several. As it is, it's a slight, inoffensive but only sporadically funny effort that, as rock comedies go, is a far cry from a Walk Hard, never mind a This Is Spinal Tap, having much more in common with the likes of Airheads or Still Crazy. When we meet Fishman he is a drummer in upcoming hair metal band Vesuvius. The band ...  Read the complete review

Rainn Wilson shot to fame playing the eccentric mortician Arthur in HBO's superb drama Six Feet Under. Furthermore, a starring role in NBC's American version of The Office secured him as a mainstay of American comedy, ensuring him numerous cameos and roles in comedy films. The Rocker is his first lead role in a film, and sadly, he deserves better. Not only did the film not bode well with critics, it is one of the least profitable films of 2008, despite considerable promotion. Borrowing much of its premise from Richard Linklater and Jack Black's fantastic School of Rock, the film involves Robert "Fish" Fishman (Rainn Wilson) as a washed up musician of ...  Read the complete review

The film opens on a rock band - Vesuvius - closing a set. They finish and are offered a contract on condition that they get rid of their drummer Robert 'Fish' Fishman, replacing him with the record label owner's son. Although they don't want to do this they are quickly persuaded to do so. The drummer is understandably upset. Cut forward 20 years. Vesuvius are a world phenomenon, and have just released yet another massively successful album which they are now touring on the back of. 'Fish' is working in a call centre. He quickly loses this job when a colleague plays the new album and he reacts...quite badly. We find out that this is not the 1st time he has lost a job ...  Read the complete review