Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (Liam Lynch, 2006, USA) May 29, 2007
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Comedy, 2000s, Film reviews, Action/Adventure , trackbackDir. Liam Lynch; screenplay by Jack Black & Kyle Gass; starring Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Jason Reed, Ronnie James Dio, Tim Robbins, Dave Grohl, Ben Stiller
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny is a film aimed primarily at their fans. It’s also targeted, unfortunately, at those who enjoyed This Is Spinal Tap, the Beatles in Yellow Submarine, rock opus Tommy, or Eric Idle in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. But beyond its novelty, it pales in comparison.
At times, the film seems more concerned conforming to rock and roll conventions like the psychedelic hallucinations brought on by a rampant overindulgence with acid that made Yellow Submarine so unique but ultimately completely rubbish. The Beatles movie might have been a strange affair with little merit, but at least it was honest. The Pick of Destiny wants to be the Yellow Submarine of the MTV-generation, it wants to celebrate music like Tommy, and it desperately wants to be as funny as This Is Spinal Tap, but it’s nothing more than a poorly-scripted set of sketches (Black and Gass are much more suited to their television work and comedy sketches seen on The Complete Masterworks).
Jack Black tries his level best to make it work, and has some amusing moments, but he’s not helped by Kyle Gass who reminds me of a middle-aged man at a wedding party trying to score with the twenty year old bridesmaids. Gass is a master of the guitar but he’s a terrible actor.
Apart from a beautiful transition for the opening credits when electric guitar-driven music is seamlessly dissolved into an orchestral score (this is right about the time when you’ve still got high hopes for the film), it’s incoherent, messy, and seriously lacking in laughs. I’m both a fan of Tenacious D and Jack Black, but this isn’t a celebration of rock n roll, it’s a feature-length promotion for a sub-par rock album that won’t sell very well.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Comments»
Well, first of all, i agree with you when you say that Gass is not an actor, he just play the guitar. But come on, this is a movie you are not supposed to be taking so serious.
I think the intention of the flick is more the one of a music video.
In “the pick of destiny” there’s not a pretension of being a good movie, is all just about the rock and the laughs. And the movie, like the Tenacious D music is sometimes outreageous, sometimes hilarious, sometimes exaggerated but entertaining at the end.
Jack Black is dealing with a much more personal film than you may think; and if you are familiar with The Tenacious D video: Tribute. You’ll see that the Pick of destiny is a prolonged version of that video, the song, and the created background of the band.
Is a movie to seat back and relax, nothing else, and it happens to be also a cool rock musical with, yes, a few boring and unfunny scenes (like the hallucination), but with a possitive balance at the end, wich is having a good time.
i really enjoyed this film - made me laugh - love kage and jables!