Film

Rock of Ages (2012)

Director: Adam Shankman

Synopsis

The hugely popular ’80s-themed Broadway jukebox musical – which recently opened in the UK to extremely mixed reviews – gets the big screen treatment courtesy of ‘Bringing Down the House’ director Adam Shankman. The film tells the story of an idealistic young rocker who comes to LA seeking stardom, and falls in with dubious music industry execs and hard-partying bad boys, while the soundtrack is composed of largely forgotten AM hits by the likes of Styx, Bon Jovi and Pat Benatar. But it’s the cast that’ll get folks talking: unknowns Diego Boneta and Julianne Hough play the romantic leads, but they’re supported by a remarkable list of A-list talent including Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul Giamatti, May J Blige and, perhaps inevitably, Russell Brand. Frankly, it’s hard to imagine this being anything other than a slick, ‘rock-night-on-“American Idol”’car crash, but miracles can happen.