GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

xx All of Us
53 Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
57 Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, The
64 Appaloosa
69 Ashes of Time Redux
68 August Evening
xx B.O.H.I.C.A.
62 Baghead
84 Ballast
54 Battle in Seattle
xx Beer for My Horses
75 Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
xx Billy: The Early Years
66 Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
56 Bottle Shock
55 Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
50 Breakfast with Scot
61 Brick Lane
43 Call and Response
62 Changeling
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
47 Choke
46 Choose Connor
84 Christmas Tale, A
41 Cthulhu
81 Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
xx Dostana
62 Duchess, The
46 Dukes, The
63 Eden
xx Eden Lake
66 Elegy
46 Elephant King, The
80 Encounters at the End of the World
26 Everybody Wants to Be Italian
64 Fall, The
69 Fear(s) of the Dark
26 Filth and Wisdom
28 Fireproof
52 First Basket, The
67 Flow: For Love of Water
37 Forever Strong
69 Frontrunners
82 Frozen River
43 Gardens of the Night
73 Girl Cut in Two, A
73 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
54 Good Dick
30 Guitar, The
84 Happy-Go-Lucky
44 Henry Poole is Here
31 Hounddog
27 House of the Sleeping Beauties
47 How About You
54 Humboldt County
72 I Served the King of England
70 I.O.U.S. A
40 Igor
64 In Search of a Midnight Kiss
78 I've Loved You So Long
63 JCVD
41 Johnny Got His Gun
xx Just Buried
62 Kabluey
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
25 Lake City
78 Last Mistress, The
81 Let the Right One In
xx Lower Learning
63 Man Named Pearl, A
89 Man on Wire
xx Mary
xx Matador, The
62 Mister Foe
84 Momma's Man
51 Morning Light
79 Moving Midway
33 My Name Is Bruce
59 Nights and Weekends
73 Obscene
40 Other End of the Line, The
34 Otto; or Up with Dead People
40 Passengers
xx Phoebe in Wonderland
55 Ping Pong Playa
75 Pool, The
77 Pray the Devil Back to Hell
82 Rachel Getting Married
56 Religulous
32 Repo! The Genetic Opera
xx Roadside Romeo
53 RocknRolla
56 Save Me
74 Secret, A
45 Shoot on Sight
57 Sixty Six
85 Slumdog Millionaire
56 Special
58 Splinter
79 Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67 Synecdoche, New York
82 Tell No One
64 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
57 Towelhead
72 Transsiberian
83 Trouble the Water
43 Tru Loved
83 U2 3D
61 Universe of Keith Haring
84 Up the Yangtze
52 Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
79 Visitor, The
61 Wackness, The
59 We Are Wizards
55 What Just Happened?
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Rocker, The
20th Century Fox

Rocker, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 53 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.7 out of 10
based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for drug and sexual references, nudity and language

Starring Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger, Jane Lynch, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, and Howard Hesseman

The Rocker, aka Robert "Fish" Fishman, was the drummer for an eighties hair band. He was living the rock 'n' roll dream... until he was kicked out of the group. Twenty years later, the desperate rocker joins his nephew's band, "A.D.D.," finally reclaiming the rock-god throne he's always thought he deserved -- while taking his much younger bandmates along for the ride of their lives. (20th Century Fox)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Ryan Jaffe
Wallace Wolodarsky
Maya Forbes
 
DIRECTED BY: Peter Cattaneo  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: August 20, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Wilson is pretty much the whole show. With nobody else around to steal from, he ends up stealing scenes from himself.
Read Full Review
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Andy Spletzer
The most surprising thing about The Rocker is how enjoyable it is.
Read Full Review
75
TV Guide Ken Fox
The movie's is really good, clean fun that's fine for slightly older kids and a lot of fun for adults.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
It's a lot of fun. Its spirit is genuine and, even with the odd vomit gag, fundamentally sweet.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
This familiar scenario works because of well-written and acted characters. The disciplined direction is by Peter Cattaneo, who tackled somewhat similar material in "The Full Monty" a decade ago.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Overcomes its essential familiarity thanks to a frequently witty script, grounded direction (by Peter Cattaneo, of "Full Monty" fame) and an engaging turn by its star that proves him more than capable of carrying a comedy feature.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Peter Debruge
Wilson makes the most of it in this well-crafted, feel-good satire.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The Rocker can be amusingly dopey, with its "Spinal Tap"-ish lampooning of rock idioms - and idiots.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
A grubby little redemption comedy that in every way feels like a consignment-shop Jack Black vehicle.
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Silly, and unashamedly second-hand, the movie is essentially a Jack Black movie without Jack Black, which is, arguably, an improvement.
Read Full Review
60
Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
The Rocker has the requisite vomit, the view of some very unfortunate hind quarters and the suds. It's also got a vein of sweetness and charm.
Read Full Review
60
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
There are plenty of funny moments, as well as a sweet subplot involving the unkempt drummer and the guitarist's no-nonsense mom (Christina Applegate).
Read Full Review
60
Empire Simon Crook
Lightweight but likable.
Read Full Review
58
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Wilson and a loaded supporting cast are never as funny as they should be.
Read Full Review
58
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Too bad it shortchanges the music and fails to provide much evidence for Wilson's appeal.
Read Full Review
50
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The movie is so tepid and inoffensive: It reminded me of a '70s Disney live-action product, with clean-scrubbed "hippies" like Johnny Whitaker chafing harmlessly under the wise ministrations of Suzanne Pleshette, whose job was to keep the kids in hand.
Read Full Review
50
The New York Times Stephen Holden
Most disappointingly, the music is tepid, mediocre pop pastiche.
Read Full Review
50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Rocker is more disappointing than it is outright bad. One expects something a little fresher from Wilson.
Read Full Review
50
Salon.com James Hannaham
A pleasant but unimpressive experience.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand
You want to like almost everyone in this film, but they're all undone by a weak script.
Read Full Review
50
Los Angeles Times Sam Adams
For the most part, The Rocker is content to simply keep the beat, marking time as the summer movie season moves on.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Wilson works overtime to hold Peter Cattaneo's flimsy comedy together.
Read Full Review
50
New York Magazine David Edelstein
It's depressing when the best thing you can say about a comedy is that its second-rateness is pleasantly in sync with its unmagnetic hero.
Read Full Review
42
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The only brazen thing about the film is how shamelessly it rips off "School of Rock."
Read Full Review
40
Film Threat Don R. Lewis
Not terribly original or funny.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Wilson is buoyed by a sporadically witty script, and while there are no surprises whatsoever in the story, his goofy, puppylike charm renders what could have been a disaster merely an unfortunate event.
Read Full Review
40
Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
This is sugary-sweet stuff--pop instead of rock.
Read Full Review
38
USA Today Claudia Puig
If you're a Rainn Wilson fan, catch a rerun of "The Office."
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: MLB | Spore | iPhone 3G | Paris Hilton | Antivirus Software | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use