Product Description

Copy machine repairman gets opportunity to be lead singer for his favorite band.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-JUN-2003
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7216 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2002-01-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com
If you've ever indulged a rock & roll fantasy, Rock Star will give you the vicarious thrill of seeing that fantasy come to life. That's what happens when talented tribute-band singer Chris Cole (Mark Wahlberg) is tapped to replace his idol as frontman for 1980s metal gods Steel Dragon. Chris becomes the groupie-laden "Izzy," his manager girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston) grows weary of sex 'n' drugs on tour, and Rock Star plays out its utterly conventional plot line. Despite the casting of real rockers to support Wahlberg's underrated performance (nicely matched by Aniston and Timothy Spall as Steel Dragon's road manager), his character is too rigidly written to follow an obligatory rise and fall, and even its basis in fact (inspired by Tim "Ripper" Owens's recruitment into Judas Priest) can't conceal the movie's predictable formula. As a cautionary tale it's routine, but as a leather-pants love story, Rock Star's got enough good karma to keep its dream alive. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Mark Wahlberg is Chris, a well-brought-up Pittsburgh boy who repairs copy machines during the day and tarts himself up at night as the lead singer in Blood Pollution, a tribute band devoted to the implacably mediocre Brit kings of heavy metal, Steel Dragon. When the lead singer of Steel Dragon gets kicked out, Chris steps in as his replacement. The movie is a sardonic look at the mechanics of the rock world: we get the clear idea that in this kind of high-schlock touring band no difference exists between the original and the copy. The details of Chris's rise are enjoyable, but the picture turns into a rather obvious morality tale: Chris gets pawed by sex parasites and takes drugs and loses his soul. Will he find it again? I bet you can guess. With Jennifer Aniston as his shrewd girlfriend, who inserts a nipple ring into his chest with great delicacy, and Timothy Spall as a road manager who knows that the lewd world of rock touring is not the only thing in life. Based on a true story. Written by John Stockwell and directed by Stephen Herek. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker