Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

The best musical ever!

The Gist

As a kid in a Christian home, JB was the rebel and the devil that desires for nothing more than Satanic rock music. He runs away from home and heads to Hollywood then he becomes an adult JB in the form of Jack Black. In his quest for the perfect rock mentor, he meets Kyle Gass, a marvel at the guitar and immediately, JB worships him. However, they were lacking something to make the perfect masterpiece: The Pick of Destiny. To obtain it, they need to steal it from the Museum of the Rock & Roll History.

Does it rock?

You bet it does! Rarely, we get Hollywood thinking out of the box. POD does that the best way you couldn’t have imagined it to be. (At least for me.) Again, whenever I watch something with low expectations, great things always turn out to happen. Whatever that is taboo, unconventional, gross, disgusting, offensive, sensitive has all been mixed nicely into this bag of reels. No I’m not talking about that Borat film.

The storyline could be a semi-autobiography of how Tenacious D got together. The narration is done with mostly tunes that were seemingly composed on the spot with courtesy of lyrics and melody by JB and the complementing guitar riffs by KG. Amazingly, the acoustic guitar blends well with the outrageous lyrics.

People who watch this film will not observe the cinematography nor the directorial effort for Oscar-worthy moments. What matters most here are the lyrics that could literally blow you away. They are most of the time funny, relevant and provoking. Is JB really that lyrical genius? Fans of Tenacious D would get awesome satisfaction here.

Other than the lyrics, most of the screenplay really got me cracking up real good. I haven’t laughed out loud at Hollywood movies for years now and this one seems to do it for me. The “one cock push-up a day” thing, the totally irrelevant sasquatch dream sequence and that Tim Robbins appearance that almost stole the show. Watch out for that scene where JB is cleaning up the kitchen; he throws the towel to the back hoping to catch it from there then it drops on the floor, he picks it up again only to throw it to nowhere. Makes no sense right? I don’t know why but I couldn’t stop laughing at that scene.

I expected more lyrical goodness from the final showdown but hey, it was really o-kay I guess.

Rating: 9/10
A masterpiece!

Notes:
Satan is played by Dave Grohl, the ex-Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters lead singer.

Last updated: 2009-08-12 01:04:52 by joekhor