FilmJudge - Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny

REVIEW

Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny
2006
Certificate: 15 | Runtime: 93 | Director: Liam Lynch
Starring: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Tim Robbins

After meeting in California, JB (Black) and KG (Gass) decide to form a rock band. They call the band 'Tenacious D' after combining the letters in their mysterious birthmarks together, and set out to steal a magical guitar pick known as 'The Pick of Destiny', from a rock and roll museum.

Tenacious D is the sort of film where you can tell it was great fun to make, but this doesn't automatically make it particularly good to watch. It has a few solid funny moments, and the songs are great, but the film is essentially an in-joke, and unless you're a massive 'Tenacious D' fan it becomes apparent the film doesn't have much going for it.

I actually think Jack Black is an incredibly funny actor, but it's so frustrating to see him in roles that don't challenge him. Although Black himself created the JB persona it's essentially a one-dimensional role, and one that has become a little stale in the light of so much publicity. You get the feeling he doesn't really need to try to bring the hopeful rocker to life, and that's a shame. In the film he has his funny moments (I've never heard anyone order carrot juice quite like him), but the real comic surprise is Gass. I suppose this is because KG has always been the one in the background, so this film is an opportunity for Gass to shine. He has good comic timing, is skilled at deadpan humour, and I actually think his character has the better lines.

One thing it's impossible to deny is that the songs in Tenacious D are great. They all boarder (deliberately) on the side of parody, but they're actually very well written and put to good use. There are times when they use the songs as a form of narration, and the moments where the film is close to turning into a fully-blown musical are when it's at its strongest.

There's no denying though that the film expects much of the humour to come from the characters, but this isn't possible when they're so one-note. Tim Robbins pops up playing a creepy old rocker and gets a few laughs, but it's simply the case that the frequency of the humour in general isn't consistent enough. It's also apparent that too many things have worked their way into the script that would have sounded great when they were being written down, but which don't translate well onto the screen.

Visually there is a lot to like about the film. It's packed with funky cartoons featuring JB and KG which help move the film along, and some of the song stagings are deliberately, and hilariously, over the top.

Overall though, by the time Tenacious D ends it has rather run out of steam. I suspect the idea would actually have worked better as a TV series or a number of short films, rather than as an epic motion picture. The jokes just aren't as funny as they're intended to be, and the characters are wearing a bit thin now. It's good for the odd chuckle or the occasional smile, but much like the majority of rock stars the film is overblown, self-centred and not as good as it thinks it is.

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