BEFORE: Kirk Ward carries over from "The Onion Movie", where he played a hockey star who kept getting injured worse and worse, but continued to play the sport, even going on the ice when he was blind and in a wheelchair. Look, I'm sure the joke made sense to somebody at one time, but it just didn't pan out as funny, sorry.
This is NOT the start of the big Summer Music Concert and/or Documentary series, though Tenacious D is a band, this is (I'm guessing) not a doc and not meant to be taken seriously. There may be music in it, but that doesn't make it a concert film - the real Summer Music films are still a few weeks away, so this maybe is like an opening act. Also, it is Ronnie James Dio's birthday, another advantage of sneaking in "The Onion Movie" is lining this film up with what would have been his 79th birthday, if he hadn't died in 2010. I guess it's still his birthday, up in rock & roll heaven...
THE PLOT: To become the greatest band of all time, two slacker wanna-bes set out on a quest to steal a legendary guitar pick that gives its holders incredible guitar skills from a maximum security Rock and Roll museum.
AFTER: Probably my biggest problem here is that I'm just not into the band Tenacious D - I can't name any of their songs, I've seen them do this or that over the years but nothing's really stuck with me, so it's probably easier to appreciate this film if you're coming in as a fan. But there's a long history of bands playing fictional versions of themselves, going back to "A Hard Day's Night", at least, so I get it - if they want to create an alternate history for how the band came together, they can do that. Only now I feel like one of those old squares who didn't appreciate The Beatles when they played Ed Sullivan, and just called their music a bunch of noise.
I will say the casting is great here, having Meat Loaf play Jack Black's father is a stroke of genius, as is getting Dave Grohl to play Satan for a spin on the traditional "musical duel with the devil" thing, a nod back to either Robert Johnson, Charlie Daniels Band or maybe just "Guitar Hero". They add a few things to that old story here, like Satan's lost tooth being used as a pick that grants the user super guitar-playing skills, only the devil wants the tooth back so he can be complete again, and get un-banished from stealing souls.
There are parallels here to the "Bill & Ted" films, not just battling Death/The Devil but also this being part of the path to fame and writing that killer song or winning the talent contest that will someday, somehow change the world and make the band rich and famous at the same time. Two musicians willing to fake it until they make it, right? And make it they will, despite having limited musical and songwriting ability, but tons of what they hope is the right attitude. Oh, and friendship, don't forget that, apparently it's very important.
According to Jack Black, though, the film had underwhelming box office, due to the fact that the target audience was stoners, who couldn't be bothered (or were constantly too high) to go see the film in theaters. For years, he would meet fans proclaiming, "I just saw it, it was awesome!", only, where were those people when the film was trying to make money?
Eh, it's good for a few laughs, but there's not a lot more here that felt substantial to me. Still, this is my week of films taking a look at all aspects of American society, from beauty pageants to reality shows, news channels running cross-promotions and conservative parents who don't want their kids to grow up or form bands. (Yes, three films with overly strict parents, "The Virgin Suicides", "Cinema Verite" and now this one - so that's a loose theme in itself...). But come on, what's more American than rock & roll? I think we practically invented the whole thing, right?
Also starring Jack Black (last seen in "Jumanji: The Next Level"), Kyle Gass (last seen in "The New Guy"), Ronnie James Dio, Dave Grohl (last seen in "Bill & Ted Face the Music"), Meat Loaf (last seen in "Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead"), JR Reed, Ben Stiller (last seen in "Greed"), Paul F. Tompkins (last seen in "Between Two Ferns: The Movie"), Tim Robbins (last seen in "Cinema Verite"), John C. Reilly (last seen in "Holmes & Watson"), Cynthia Ettinger (last seen in "Thirteen"), Andrew Caldwell (last seen in "All About Steve"), Amy Poehler (last seen in "A Very Murray Christmas"), Evie Peck, Ned Bellamy (last seen in "Twilight"), Jay Johnston, John Ennis (last heard in "Nerdland"), Troy Gentile (last seen in "Drillbit Taylor"), Molly Bryant, Mason Knight, Gregg Turkington, with cameos from Amy Adams (last seen in "Vice" (2018)), Fred Armisen (last seen in "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot"), Colin Hanks (also last seen in "Jumanji: The Next Level"), David Krumholtz (last seen in "Wonder Wheel"), Jason Segel (last seen in "The End of the Tour").
RATING: 4 out of 10 fret symbols
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