Rock of Ages

Based on the Broadway musical, Rock of Ages follows several characters – including Julianne Hough’s wide-eyed Sherrie Christian, Diego Boneta’s ambitious Drew Boley, and Tom Cruise’s world-weary Stacee Jaxx – as their lives intersect over the course of a few especially tumultuous days. There’s little doubt that Rock of Ages benefits substantially from its fast-paced and thoroughly energetic opening few minutes, with the compulsively watchable feel of this stretch immediately drawing the viewer into the proceedings and cultivating an atmosphere of peppy fun. It’s just as clear, however, that the film subsequently experiences a demonstrable lull that does, in the final analysis, last for much of its midsection, as scripters Justin Theroux, Chris D’Arienzo, and Allan Loeb place an ongoing emphasis on paper-thin characters and hackneyed plot developments that slowly-but-surely drain one’s interest – with the less-than-compelling vibe compounded by jokes and gags of a decidedly over-the-top and hopelessly unfunny nature. (It doesn’t help, either, that too many of the ’80s rock songs feel as though they’ve been shoehorned into the proceedings with little thought to context or appropriateness.) And while there are a few memorable moments sprinkled here and there – eg an impressively raunchy duet between Stacee Jaxx and Malin Akerman’s Constance Sack set to Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” – Rock of Ages doesn’t wholeheartedly begin to gather momentum and improve until it enters its climactic stretch (ie there’s too much within the movie’s middle that just comes off as padding, including Sherrie’s tedious stint at a sleazy strip club). The film’s palpable turnaround is heightened by a number of unexpectedly engrossing musical numbers towards the end, with the final result a passable piece of work that would’ve been far better off had it topped out at 90 minutes.

**1/2 out of ****

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