Starring: Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Malin Akermann (Couples Retreat), Paul Giamatti (The Ides of March).
Director: Adam Shankman (Hairspray).
Screening: Reading Cinemas Queenstown daily 12.30pm, 3.15pm, 6pm, 8.45pm.
5 stars (out of 5)
Bare-chested, tattooed, and managed by the sleazy Paul Gill (Giamatti), Cruise steals the show from an all-star cast, which includes Mary J Blige, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the ever-improving Russell Brand, who is just playing himself but a bit louder.
Rock of Ages starts with a young girl (Julianne Hough, Footloose) with big dreams and even bigger hair who arrives in Los Angeles chasing fame as a singer.
She winds up working at rock club the Bourbon Room, managed by Dennis Dupree (Baldwin) and his devoted assistant Lonny (Brand). This is where rock god Jaxx is scheduled to play his last gig with his band before he goes solo.
As a movie which is basically just about chasing your dreams and your heart's desires, Rock of Ages does the job brilliantly well and I had a smile on my face the whole way through. The Stacee Jaxx version of Foreigner's I Want to Know What Love Is is worth the price of admission alone.
This is Glee for rock fans. The plot might be threadbare and held together by celebrities doing karaoke, but it's so much fun to watch, it doesn't matter. Is it a coincidence I tuned in to Rock FM on the way home and turned it up a tad?
Rock on!
- By Sally Burgess
