The Rocker

C

The Rocker

Rated PG-13; Directed by Peter Cattaneo; Starring Rainn Wilson, Teddy Geiger, Emma Stone, Josh Gad, Christina Applegate

You know the summer is coming to an end when the studios toss off various weak movies to clear the slate for the upcoming higher-quality fall films. The Rocker certainly fits the bill of a weak movie tossed off with little attention to quality. This is just another so-so comedy with a script that doesn’t even try to surprise us. Watching it, we all know what’s going to happen and then it does happen.

Rainn Wilson of “The Office” stars as Robert “Fish” Fishman, an ex-drummer for the wildly popular band, Vesuvius. Kicked out years earlier, he hasn’t played the drums for twenty years until his nephew, Matt (Josh Gad), needs a drummer for his band. Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and Amelia (Emma Stone) reluctantly allow Fish to join the band. Though Fish doesn’t quite get the concept of playing at a high school prom, he does get them noticed by a record company when video of him drumming naked hits YouTube. Rainn Wilson is very willing to show off his less than rock-hard body.

There are laughs and Rainn Wilson does his best to entertain. The characters have no depth, but the actors aren’t unappealing. It’s just that there’s nothing fresh or exciting about the plot. If movies were made with a paint-by-numbers kit, than this is the equivalent of a blandly colored landscape. The music also comes across as less than rockin’ – it’s also bland.

Rainn Wilson has some fun moments, but overall, it’s just another mediocre summer comedy. A late summer comedy at that. Wait for it to show up on video.