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In the movie, Mark Wahlberg plays Chris Cole, lead singer of a band that plays frighteningly loud tributes to Steel Dragon, the world's most popular heavy metal band. Cole devotes himself slavishly to the group, emulating their lead singer's every move and complaining when his band mates deviate from the original Steel Dragon recordings by a note. Cole lives in Pittsburgh, repairs copy machines for a living and, like most up-and-coming rockers, has yet to move out of his parents' house. Cole's girlfriend Emily is played by Jennifer Aniston from NBC's Friends. (She's not an untalented actress, but for reasons unknown she cannot pick a decent film role.) Eventually, Chris' obsessive need to emulate Steel Dragon note-for-note gets him fired from his own band. However, it also attracts the attention of the real Steel Dragon and when the lead singer of the group quits in a huff, Chris is hired to replace him. The rest of the movie charts Chris' rise to rock and roll supremacy and the pitfalls that come with it.

Rock Star is one of those films that means well and is never unwatchable, but the story is terminally bland. All the heavy metal cliches (drugs, orgies, big hair, etc.) are carted out as if for the first time. Also, writer John Stockwell's take on the "be careful what you wish for" scenario is not inspired, nor original, nor even interesting. I wouldn't mind so much if I cared about the characters more, but there's not a whole lot of charisma in Wahlberg's performance (a problem that helped sink the recent remake of Planet of the Apes as well) and he's certainly not going to takes what's written and make it better. Although he's undoubtedly handsome and has a certain feral quality, that's not enough to overcome the story's weaknesses.

Ironically, the film is more effective when it slows down to talk. For instance, the scene where the original Steel Dragon lead singer quits is funny and his speech to Chris about the realities of a rock and roll life is pointed and telling. Also, I liked some of the moments with Chris and Emily. Once Chris (whom the band has renamed Izzy) starts diving headfirst into the heavy metal lifestyle, Emily knows their endgame is coming and some of those conversations were interesting. The film also features plenty of real rockers, including guitarists Zakk Wylde and Brian Vander Ark, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer Jason Bonham. Such trivia would mean more if the movie were better. One rocker-turned-actor worth mentioning is Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins, who is actually very good as the leader of Black Babylon, Cole's competition in the Pittsburgh Heavy Metal Hair Band sweepstakes.

One factoid worth noting is that Rock Star is a fictionalized take on the life of Tim "Ripper" Owens, a Judas Priest fan who replaced the band's lead singer, Rob Halford. While I find that story moderately interesting, it certainly didn't warrant its own big-screen treatment and Rock Star only proves me right. In the end, I love films that tell me something I don't know. Failing that, I like films that tell me something I already know, but allow me to spend time with some interesting characters. Ultimately, the innocuous but tepid Rock Star fulfills none of these criteria.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Warner Home Video presents Rock Star in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The picture is clean and bright, maybe even too bright. In fact, the first five minutes of the film made me think the transfer was going to be problematic: the picture was so oversaturated I thought it was an artistic choice. Also, the blacks in the opening credit sequence had an unacceptable amount of digital artifacts. Luckily, the transfer evened out as it went along and by the end, became quite nice. Black levels were strong and even. Contrast was good, however some of the interiors were too dark. The color scheme in the film is very brown and it comes across strong. Fleshtones are occasionally a tad washed out because the picture is so bright. The concert footage includes some pyrotechnics and stage lighting, all of which looked good. Luckily, I found no edge enhancements and only an occasional print defect. In all, a bright, clean transfer. Although there were moments when it was too bright for its own good.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

If your film is called Rock Star, you'd better be equipped with a strong audio presentation. And luckily, the disc delivers a solid Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Fidelity is strong, using all the highs and lows, while the songs helps create a nice, enveloping track. And thankfully, the music was vibrant and loud, but never speaker rattling. I felt that was appropriate for a film that fancies itself a character study as well as a musical. Special shout out to the bass, which is deep and powerful. Wahlberg screams a lot in the film, so it's especially impressive that the highs never tear. Audio during the various concert performances feature a subtle, realistic echo, simulating live arena sound. There is actually not a lot of imaging going on, which was somewhat of a disappointment. In all, a solid mix.

For all you Gallic rockers, the disc also features a French 5.1 dub, along with English, French and Spanish subtitles and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The key supplement is the screen-specific audio commentary by director Stephen Herek, who started out making dopey yet fun movies like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Mighty Ducks. However, after moving on to mature fare like Mr. Holland's Opus, he's regressed, thanks to the one-two punch of Eddie Murphy's biblically unfunny Holy Man and now, Rock Star. Herek has a clear and likable voice, which is little compensation for the fact that he says almost nothing of real interest. He talks of character motivation and the film's myriad locations, but there's not much in the way of gossip or filmic insight. Nice guy, boring commentary.

There is a slick 4-minute featurette called Backstage Pass that includes clips from the film and soundbites from the principals. The clips are presented in anamorphic widescreen and look as good as they do in the film. Behind-the-scenes material and interviews are presented in full- screen. Some of the footage is crystal clear, but some of it is a little dodgy; digital artifacting is an occasional problem while some of the interviews look like third-generation VHS. Still, this is just fast-moving fluff, hardly worth watching more than once.

Also included is a music video from one of my favorite bands, Everclear. The song is called "Rock Star" and is presented in full screen. The video looks fine, if not sparkling. The audio is wall-of-sound loud, which means there's not a lot in creativity in the mix. Rounding out the extras is a trailer for the film, also presented in anamorphic widescreen. It looks fine, with the exception of some artifacting and the occasional speck. There are also Cast and Crew Credits, which are really just credits for Wahlberg, Aniston and Herek

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts