A small town girl from Tennessee and a boy from the BIG City meet up and each pursuit singing careers. Ups, Downs and 80′s ROCK MUSIC all the way around in this movie called “ROCK OF AGES” The movie stars some of Hollywood’s biggest names including: Alec Baldwin, Russell Brandt, Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, and Diego Boneta.
The ROCK OF AGES movie storyline is based on a small town girl and a city boy trying to make their Hollywood dreams come true while working in THE BOURBON HOUSE, a bar/nightclub plagued with financial tax problems and run by Alec Baldwin and Russel Brand. Dennis Dupree(Alec Baldwin) has one shot at making his financial nightmares disappear and maintain his BOURBON HOUSE and that one shot is none other than Stacee Jaxx(Tom Cruise). One performance by Stacee Jaxx and the financial despair should clear up, but one performance by Stacee Jaxx only sets the stage(no pun intended) for more drama.
The entire movie and ALL the lines are based around songs of the 80′s, hence ‘ROCK OF AGES’ title and you will be astounded, and mystified when you see TOM CRUISE(Stacee Jaxx), Alec Baldwin and Cathryn Zeta Jones singing songs from the 80′s. Tom Cruise actually holds his own in singing throughout the movie, and it is something that you actually have to see to believe. Tom Cruise portrays Stacee Jaxx a rocker who has decided to break free of his band and go solo! At the same time, Sherry(Julianne Hough) and Drew(Diego Boneta) both have challenges ahead of them, will it be Rock Star singing for Sherry or Drew or will they find love? Who will find success in Hollywood?
Dennis Dupree(Alec Baldwin) and Russel Brand deliver a few good one-liners which keep the movie energized, but the one-liner I did not see coming will amaze you as well.
Tom Cruise’s performances will be what will keep viewers amazed, that he has yet another talent not known, until ROCK OF AGES, and his ability to deliver a hard-core performance that crosses him somewhere between Axl Rose and Jon Bon Jovi will lure you to the screen.
The movie attempt seems to be that of trying to mesh a bunch of really great 80′s rock songs and then add a story line that is created but it is very weak and unconnected. The movie cast all sings and everyone dances at some point in the movie, almost like a Mama Mia at times just not nearly as entertaining. The lack of continuity between plot and songs and the overall scope of the movie left me wondering what this movie was trying to do? Was it trying to tell a story that it completely missed? I was actually embarrassed for the actors/actresses as was the case with Zeta Jones performing a ‘cheesy line dance’ in a church. Her character was almost as unrealistic as it could get at times, and readable as you know how it will things were going to turn out for her character before the movie ended. In the end(they might as well have just stamped the script on her forehead for us to read) I felt bad watching this because Zeta-Jones has such acting and vocal strengths as witnessed in CHICAGO, that I could not believe she would take part in this less than sensational musical movie.
****You have to see this movie if for no other reason than to see how unbelievably ‘STRANGE’ it is. Get to see some of your favorite actors/actresses in a different way… to say the least! The ‘ROCK OF AGES’ DVD is being released at BEST BUY on OCTOBER 9th. If you want to see what I have seen, you need to get there for the release date!
Disclosure: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.
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