Rock Star [DVD] [2001]

Loosely based on the story of Tim Owens who went from being a fan to becoming lead singer of Judas Priest this is an inoffensive saunter through the world of heavy metal. The band in the film is called Steel Dragon and the film is presented as fiction not fact.Mark Wahlberg is Chris Cole the lead singer of a Steel Dragon tribute band who prides himself on his pitch perfect performance even copying his idol's English accent. His dedication to detail leads to tensions in his band who feel straitjacketed by his refusal to allow them to introduce their own songs into the act. This leads to an acrimonious split with his bandmates. Fortunately for our hero, his heroes have similar problems with their lead singer and have decided to audition for a replacement. They have noticed Cole and invite him to audition.Of course Cole aces the audition and begins to live the dream as lead singer with his heroes.Except that it turns out to be a poison chalice.Ironically Cole discovers that he is stuck in a straitjacket every bit as tight as the one he imposed on his former bandmates. He discovers that the Dragons do not play anything that doesn't fit the template of what they think their fans want. The hard rocking free loving lifestyle puts immense pressure on his relationship with his long term girlfriend and she breaks away to go and realise her own dreams.Eventually Cole decides to split from the band and go and do his own thing which is where the story ends.Wahlberg gives a confident performance as Cole. Jennifer Aniston manages not to be too Rachel-ish as his girlfriend. Timothy Spall gives the stand-out performance as the Steel Dragons' manager. The rock band lifestyle is well realised as is the attitude of the diehard fans like Cole and his friends. My only criticism is that the film is a bit of an antiseptic view of the rock world. That doesn't stop it from being an entertaining couple of hours. And that's from someone who is not a heavy metal fan.

I watched this because someone told me it was good and I saw it was available on Amazon Prime.It turned out that it wasn't a complete waste of time but there were better things I could have been doing. I'm not sure if it is a spoof (it's allegedly based on Judas Priest!) if so there was way too much annoying American rock music in it that wasn't funny or very satirical. However, it did show that the whole MOR rock 'n' roll scene is just a sham. It shows that each band and each member of that band is just cog in the wheel of the music industry and can easily be replaced. It also show that the American rock dream is just a false promise because what you want (ie girls, drugs and the fast life) isn't what you want really.With this in mind the film could have been a lot better, it could have said more and still been a llot more fun. I thjink it fell between the two stools of wanting to please the metallers who will probably like the film for it's music and stage show and wanting to poke a dunny stick at the big beast.Therefore the actors were up against being made to look caricatures while still playing believable parts. Only Jennifer Anniston came out of it looking good. She is not one of my favourite actresses but she did manage to come across as natural (Maybe that was because no-one else came close to doing that!) and she looked good. Unfortunately. because of Rachel From Friends I think the film makers decided that the sex scenes would be rather tame and not deep down and dirty in true 'rock n roll' style. The other thing about the love interest in this film is that the main protagonist came across as much too juvenile for someone like the Jennifer Anniston character to be even the least bit interested in.This is no Spinal Tap and just follows the rags to riches story of so many music films.... and once again there is just too much 'nice' rock music in it to be either interesting or humorous.

I bought this film on VHS when it first came out as no cinema near me had showed it. The film was originally going to be called 'Metal god' and was about the true story of Tim Owens but the film makers decided it was aimed at too narrow a market and came up with this story instead. It has a good storyline and basically tells us you should be yourself and not try to live your life emulating someone else. Apart from the Rainbow song 'Long live rock 'n' roll' all the songs sung by the ficticous Steel Dragon and their Tribute band are originals. To be honest although i like these songs they are a bit soft rock and commercial for the type of band Steel Dragon are meant to be. There are also rock songs on the sound track which were big hits in or around the era the film is set in. There is a scene where there is doubt about the gender of one of the bands backstage team. The Scorpions song ' He's a woman, she's a man' would have been perfect but the makers of the film probably had a limited knowledge of rock music. Even if like Mark Walhberg you don't like rock music i am sure you will like this film if you buy it.

Everything Master Card says is true, but this is entertainment not a documentary. Yes, it's all bollocks, I've been in bands and it''s never been like that as far as I can tell. I'm fairly sure it wasn't even like that for Judas Priest but yannow what? For all that, this is a fun film. I enjoyed it.

Got to be up there with the best rock films

A good romp through the world of rock 'n roll! Well depicted on the whole as it does capture the highs and lows of the times and shows the ultimate emptiness of that decadent type of lifestyle that so many rock stars think they have to subscribe too [and of course many rue that later which is not shirked in this movie!] Some good music too so quite enjoyable over all! Well worth the ridiculously low price I paid!

One of my favourite films. Epic.