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Tenacious tunes shine through over-the-top gags |
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Written by Pikachu
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Friday, 01 December 2006 |
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 `TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY’
Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Ben Stiller, Meat Loaf, Tim Robbins
Behind the scenes: Directed by Liam Lynch, written by Black, Gass and Lynch
Rating: R for pervasive language, sexual content and drug use
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Grade: B-
Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Cinemark Greeley, Metrolux 14
To the non-fan, how does one explain the charm of Tenacious D? Well, the delusions-of-grandeur thing is a good place to start.
As the world’s wickedest, most self-inflated acousticrock duo, Kyle Gass and Jack Black are like a pair of midgets who show up at an inner-city pickup basketball game and start bragging about their jump shots. One feels pity, and perhaps a touch of admiration.
The ironic part of it is, the “D” really can wail. And that proves to be the saving grace of “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny” — through all the tired stoner gags and gimpy plotting, there’s still the music: the witty, vainglorious, Ronnie James Dio-inspired ballads of dragon sex and universal rock domination and, if one is so obliged, it will freak your little fanny.
Some of the duo’s exploits will certainly feel old hat to fans of the short-lived HBO series and the duo’s acclaimed, self-titled debut album. True to the band’s personal mythology, we find “KG” and “JB” in a sorry state: a pair of fat guys subsisting in a crummy apartment in Venice Beach, busking for nickels on the boardwalk. (All-time funniest Jack Black moment: scatting to Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”)
Kyle, the bald momma’s boy, wants to call it quits, but his one-time apprentice isn’t deterred. Promises Jack: “Dude, we’re gonna pay the rent ... with our rock!”
After trying _ and failing _ to channel their inner rock demons by drawing a pentagram on the carpet with squirtable ketchup, the duo hits the road to find a mythical guitar pick (made from Satan’s own tooth!) that will transform them into the mind-blowing guitar gods of their fantasies. It will be a halting ride, sprinkled with cameos (Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, Tim Robbins), not-so-hilarious psychedelic mushroom trips and a slapstick commando raid on the apocryphal Rock `N Roll History Museum in Sacramento.
If the road trip doesn’t quite live up to expectations, at least director Liam Lynch (“Jesus Is Magic”) cobbles together a blue-ribbon denouement: an epic, profanity-laced rock-off against the Dark Lord himself (Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, in horns and red body paint) outside of the rundown club where Kyle and Jack pin their hopes for open-mic-night stardom. (Paul F. Tompkins reprises his role as the club’s coolly dismissive owner, and has a funny, parting-wisdom soliloquy: “Satan’s not in a guitar pick, boys. ... It’s in here, in all of us.”)
With his relentless deadpan dullness, Gass makes for a barely adequate straight-man, leaving Black to butter the duo’s proverbial bread. And how.
The star of “Nacho Libre” and “The School of Rock” growls out every lyric like he was performing for 100,000 at the L.A. Coliseum and delivers every silly, self-serious line like he was Olivier at the West End. Rock god? Maybe. Comedy god? No doubt. | Only registered users can write comments.
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