"Rock Star "
By Garrett Chaffin-Quiray

Mark Wahlberg, hip-hop singer and advertisement for abdominal muscles turned movie actor, turns in one of the more enjoyable performances of his silver screen career. Cast as Chris Coles, a working class guy who repairs copy machines by day, by night he indulges his musical ambitions as the lead singer of a tribute band called Blood Pollution that covers the fictional metal super-group, Steel Dragon.

Unbeknownst to Chris his band members strive to write, perform and succeed with their own songs beyond doing popular covers. At loggerheads they kick him out of Blood Pollution just as the real Steel Dragon is undergoing a similar crisis in creative direction.

Out of the blue Chris is tapped as Steel Dragon's replacement singer and the "wannabe who got to be" literally gets to live out his greatest ambition. Of course all doesn't go exactly as planned for "Izzy", Chris's nom de plume, as he learns the cost of rock'n'roll fame and his preference for girlfriend/manager Emily (Jennifer Aniston) by film's end.

Set in the mid-'80s, Rock Star has a good time ridiculing its setting but not with the kind of scorn often associated with '80s nostalgia, generally, or the heavy metal musical genre, specifically. It also avoids sentimentalizing the fun of celebrity or making fame's frailties into a numb cautionary tale. Instead it displays the excesses of its sub-culture through Chris and Emily's experience of sampling drugs and sexual combinations only to end up leaving the temptations of stardom for more basic values like true love and self-fulfillment.

Weighty moments abound giving Rock Star moments of insight despite its straightforward plot. Look especially for Izzy's first concert when he falls and splits his head open under the deafening roar of a ravenous crowd. Or when Emily leaves the Steel Dragon tour as Chris is advised to cut her loose because she's a distraction from the business of being a rock star. Or the seemingly lecherous character of Steel Dragon's road manager, Mats (Timothy Spall), who has a heart filled with compromise but a head full of wisdom.

Plus the concert footage is good throughout and it almost makes you want to repeat the high feasting days of White Lion, Poison and "Slippery When Wet"-era Bon Jovi