вЂњRock of AgesвЂќ is populated with many familiar actors, most of them flitting in and out of the story (and most of the songs). HeвЂ™s got a fine face and a nice voice, but he and Hough canвЂ™t carry the film past its literary limitations or cookie-cutter love mashings. City boy and barback Drew Boley is played by newcomer Diego Boneta.

ItвЂ™s the place were Stacee first performed. I was in need of a Dramamine after the first hour.ДЇresh off the small town dance floor of last yearвЂ™s вЂњFootloose,вЂќ Julianne Hough is the pretty Oklahoma innocent with hoop earrings and cowboy boots plopped on the Sunset Strip, after a chorus of bus riders (and the driver) join her in singing вЂњJust Like Paradise.вЂќ ThatвЂ™s the general approachвЂ“songs in a somewhat natural setting-when the tunes arenвЂ™t being presented on stage at the fictitious Bourbon Room, a dingy but legendary music club managed by Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin in grubby, long-hair mode) and his assistant Lonny (Russell Brand, looking his normal self). Jaxx is aВ bare-chested and (fleetingly) bare-assedВ cousin of Les Grossman, the obnoxious producer in вЂњThunder,вЂќ and Cruise helps raise the movie above its lowly foundation by hitting the right notes.ДЄdam Shankman, who directed the screen version of вЂњHairsprayвЂќ with great aplumb, seems to have abandoned that filmвЂ™s early 1960s goofiness in favor of a late 1980s cardboard, white-bread romance and multi-location, variant storyline editing (jarringly by Emma E. The playвЂ™s author, Chris DвЂ™Arienzo, joined by Justin вЂњTropic ThunderвЂќ Theroux and Allan Loeb, seldom inspire applause (or laughs) in adapting a love story set in a too-indulgent and seedy 1987 Los Angeles, as embodied by Tom CruiseвЂ™s boozy and toxically hedonistic rock star Stacee Jaxx. Winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical and still going strong after more than 1,200 performances, I have to wonder if the American filmgoing masses are going to embrace the heavy metal standards that over-populate this over-long, stiff screen adaptation. I havenвЂ™t caught the Broadway musical вЂњRock of AgesвЂќ during one of my occasional visits to the Big Apple.

Rock of ages movie wiki