Rock of Ages: juke box heroes have some laughs

The Broadway musical Rock of Ages comes to the screen – a love story of hopeful young performers set on the seamy Sunset Strip in the age of Journey, Styx, Bon Jovi and the ever popular Whitesnake.  It really doesn’t matter that there is only a barest shred of a plot – this is a musical, after all, and we just need an excuse to break into song.

The two young leads are fine, but the laughs come from the impressive crew of supporting actors: Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary J. Blige and Bryan Cranston.   Cruise self-mockingly plays an Axel Rose type rock star, only more unreliable.

The inspired musical production numbers are staged ironically (there’s no other way to do a Quarterflash song).   You haven’t really heard Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is until you’ve seen Tom Cruise really selling it.  At one point, Brand’s rockers belt out We Built This City in a duel with Zeta-Jones’ pastel clad church ladies singing We’re Not Going To Take It.  All lighthearted and funny; it’ll be a good DVD/stream pick in a few months.

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