This item is currently not available. If you have this item,
Join and post it to share with others.
It's hard to callDetroit Rock Citya "coming of age" movie--since it's hard to argue that any of the characters do any genuine growing up. But even though it's about four young metalheads trying to get to a KISS concert, the movie actually has more in common with sincere portraits of adolescence than it does with raucous teen comedies. The four heroes are members of a teen metal band called Mystery (thesis written in the same font as the letters of KISS, lest anyone mistake their source of inspiration). After the drummer's religiously zealous mother burns their tickets to a long-awaited concert in nearby Detroit, the boys go anyway and try to get tickets through theft, skullduggery, and entering a male stripper contest. The jokes are broad and the movie culminates in an orgy of male adolescent wish-fulfillment, but here and there some loving attention is paid to the details of 1970s teenage life--the haircuts, clothes, and toys the filmmakers probably had when they were kids. Edward Furlong, as the band's singer, is his usual scruffy self and exudes his particular lopsided charm; the rest of the cast play their parts with similar high spirits. ThoughDetroit Rock Citywas probably meant to be a no-holds-barred comedy in the vein ofAmerican Pie, the end result is curiously wistful; no one's going to mistake it forThe Last Picture Show, but something sincere and elegiac lurks in those bang-covered eyes.--Bret Fetzer
"Not REO Speedwagon or Bay City Rollers but KISS"! this movie is too hilarious to describe in such a short space and i do mean short judging from the size of Hawk's well...you know. What people won't do to get to a rock concert. I laughed my ass off when i first saw this movie in theaters I loved their final solution to crash the concert even though they would've been arrested way long before then. 4 kids + 4 concert tickets + 1 "borrowed" car on an illegal road trip can only add up to 1 thing...total hilarity. the girl's bathroom scene although gross is pretty funny.
I just heard you talkin' to my nose. I can quote this whole movie.Torn in Two Directions As a former hardcore KISS fan (and someone who grew up in the 70's), it's hard to separate what I know of Gene Simmons's opinions and outlook from the movie itself. Certain scenes play out rather clearly as acts of revenge against KISS's detractors or as acts of narcicissim. Seeing such obvious scenes tinged by Gene's mentality distracted from the movie's characters and core story. However, I'm pretty sure you'd have to be a KISS fan to see such things.
I think that the basic story is about how the 4 young men grow more confident and overcome some of their character flaws through their attempts to get tickets to a KISS concert. If you pay attention to the characters, you see that each one overcomes a personality issue by the end (for instance, Edward Furlong's character has stage fright yet he gets on stage and strips to try and win enough money to buy tickets). This is actually one of the good parts of the movie as it's at least somewhat subtle and makes you care a bit about the characters.
The bad part is that the comedy of the overly broad characterizations is either poorly directed or too petty and nasty to actually be funny. I'm talking about the portrayal of the fanatical Christian mother and the lacivious priest who wants to hear a juicy confession or no confession at all as well as the disco jerks. As for the Christian portrayals, every KISS fan knows quite well the contempt Gene Simmons has for right-wing Christians. While I have no problems with someone taking humorous potshots at overzealous types, the problem here is it's just not funny.
Other than that, there is some nice tipping of the hat to the 70s and the attitudes and lifestyle of the time. Unfortunately, there is also too much hyping of KISS. Far too often, the camera spends time lingering on images of KISS, KISS fans or KISS merchandise. If such images were meant to shore up the viewers' understanding of the fanatical devotion to the band, that'd be fair enough but it's clearly meant as advertising the band and showcasing their glory days. No connection is made between the images and the 4 boys in the story once the scene moves from the boys' homes to Detroit.
This is an okay movie that seems torn between being an homage to KISS and a coming of age comedy. The two directions aren't jarringly different but it does seem to make the pacing less smooth and focus of the movie less clear. If much more attention had been paid to the boys and much less to the band, this might have been a better movie.
