Review of Rock of Ages: a musical that could have done without the music

Rock of Ages is a terrible film.

It’s not often that I feel this way about a movie, but I honestly can’t see the motivation for making this mess of lacklustre lyrics, loose story, and indulgent subplots.

The film is marginally redeemed by Tom Cruise (who I don’t even like, but he does the drug-addled, rich-rocker so well), Russell Brand (always amusing, and that accent) and Paul Giamatti (whose sliminess was commendable) with some rousing performances from the rest of the cast, too.

Catherine Zeta Jones’ overacting made me cringe and it’s by far the worst role I’ve seen her cast in—correct me if I’m wrong—but I think she’s classier than Rock of Ages. What was she thinking?

It was slow to start, and the young lovers’ story was tedious, but as soon as the star-studded cast got rolling I actually enjoyed myself.

The whole thing was fairy-floss rubbish, of course, but saved by the strong character acting. All I can say is that it’s a musical that could have done without the music.

2 stars