PLOT: A naive rocker meets his mentor in L.A., the two form a band and together set out on a momentous quest to find a guitar pick with Lucifer's magical power.
Jack Black has the vocal chops. He has the hard rock. He has the ass-kicking duo Tenacious D. And he is a good actor specializing either in sweetly naive or dangerously duplicitous characters.
But Black's new vanity project -- a fictional, fantasy version of how Tenacious D comes together to find its muse and fight the Devil -- fails to deliver the goods as an action comedy.
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny casts the Tenacious D duo of Black and his stage partner Kyle Gass as cartoon-like versions of themselves. Their characters are known as JB and KG, but that is just about the end of realism.
In a prologue, we meet JB as a kid who worships at the altar of Satanic rock. His father (Meat Loaf in a self-satirizing cameo) is the kid's disapproving father. A rock poster of Ronnie James Dio comes alive, and the freaky Dio tells the angry kid to go Hollywood to realize his dreams.
That will take years, and the journey is referenced in an amusing way. By the time he makes it to the right Hollywood, in California, the kid is now a young man and Black makes his entrance, guitar in hand.
At Venice Beach, JB meets his mentor -- the rotund classical Gass -- and gets caught in a web of lies. The two eventually form Tenacious D. The name comes from uniting the birthmarks on their fat naked butts (visually, this flick is scarier than a horror movie).
As things progress, or digress, they set out on a Lord of the Rings-like quest to find a legendary guitar pick infused with the power of Satan and capable of turning mere mortals into rock gods. Unfortunately, the slapstick comedy routines are more Abbott & Costello or, for younger audiences, Dude, Where's My Pick?
In this milieu, one of Black's trademark characters -- the wide-eyed innocent, a man-boy capable of mischief without the malice -- gets tiresome. Especially with the way he purges himself through extreme profanity. In better-made movies such as School of Rock and the brilliant Nacho Libre, this character can be sustained and adored.
The Pick of Destiny, co-written by Black, Gass and Liam Lynch, was directed by Lynch. He worked with the two actor-musicians on their Tenacious D music videos. Perhaps they are all too cozy. An outsider might have been able to rattle Black's cage and make a better movie. Instead, Lynch's movie careens from good scenes to bad. Same with the cameos. Good are Meat Loaf and Foo Fighters frontman David Grohl as the Devil. Self-indulgently bad are Ben Stiller, John C. Reilly and Tim Robbins.
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny may just be overambitious.
BOTTOM LINE: Jack Black's fans might enjoy it because the movie showcases his astonishingly pure, wide vocal range. But, as musical comedy, it disappoints.
(This film is rated 14A)
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