Hey folks, the 'Nole has come in with a look at DETROIT ROCK CITY. Here's a movie I'm dying to see. I have yet to ever see KISS in makeup in concert. Everytime I've even been close some act of hell has kept me from seeing them perform. For me, watching KISS perform in full KISS regalia would be akin to watching Elvis or The Beatles. Not musically speaking, but iconically speaking. In make-up KISS simply becomes so utterly breathtakingly uber cool that... Damn... I don't know. I haven't seen them yet. I'm sure my imagination builds it up beyond reason... but I hope this film captures that type of excitement. Anyway, watchout in this review cause I caught a couple of SPOILERS in this review that you may want to steer clear of. But if that doesn't bother ya... Rock on...
Harry,
First off, let me say I'm a first-time, longtime regarding your site.
Anyway, I'm here to give you an early review of the film the grunts of the KISS Army have been waiting for, for....well hell, since the damn project was announced. I'm talking about "Detroit Rock City," and I will say right from the start that the movie is a hoot. It's not great, in fact, it just barely staggers across the finish line as good filmmaking, but that's missing the point. It's a blast of nostalgia for the KISS fans lucky enough to live through the Golden Age of the "Hottest Band in the World." For those who were around in the late 70's but were too young to go the shows (like me) it gives you front seat to the excitement. And to those unfortunates whose parents waited until they were legally married to do the unprotected deed, well "Detroit" gives you an idea of how badly your folks screwed you over by being good.
As for the film:
The movie is not a coming-of-age type film along the lines of an "American Pie." By that, I mean a laugh-out-loud comedy that still sketches a pretty realistic picture of life for teenagers in America. "Detroit" instead takes the silly farce rout....in fact, in some scenes, it appears director Adam Rifkin has been influenced a bit too much by "the Phantom in the Park." I felt let down when I realized this, but fortunately, the actors and the great vibes of the film made up for it. The four main kids were all enjoyable, and each had substantial on-screen time as they try and get to Cobo Hall in Detroit (rock city) to see KISS. In fact, some of the best parts of the movie are when they go their separate ways (I'm trying real hard not to put too many spoilers here). Like the original KISS, this is a group with four distinct characters; no one here is getting 'Jansported' (being carried by the others).
Edward Furlong gets top billing (not to mention the hottest babe in the picture) but it's the kid who plays Jeremiah who steals the show. He's honest, sincere, and easily the most realistic of the main characters. No doubt, most theatergoers will cheer for Tiny Term the loudest, but Jeremiah is the one we'll all be silently identifying with. Specific highlights include:
The opening scene with Jeremiah's mother (the actress playing this character drank WAY too much coffee in between takes); A highway scene featuring some Disco Dorks and soundtracked by the ebullient 70's crap classic "Makin' It." If you don't laugh out loud to this scene, you suck. It's that funny; Furlong taking the stage at a male strip club, run by none other than Ron Jeremy (whoever that is) and frequented by Shannon Tweed; The drugging of the boarding school padre is another cool scene; Every little bit of the action at the convenience store!
An overall highlight was the attention to detail in recreating 1978. Just like in the very-underrated "That 70's Show," you won't see a Pepsi One can on the table in the basement where the kids smoke pot; you won't see a box of Cocoa Krispies with Coco the Monkee on the front, because back then, they had a fat elephant-like creature on the box (why I don't know). In the convenience store, take a look at the comics on the rack, the bubble gum cards, the shirts the customers are wearing, the wrappers of the food on the shelves.....well, you get the idea. I mean, it is dead on, man! And of course, you're going to a jillion different pieces of KISS-abilia from back in the day, even though that couldn't have been too hard to get, since Gene is one of the film's producers. Still, bigtime brownie points for accuracy.
Also, the involvement of the band and obvious devotees of the KISS legend is obvious. In one particular scene where an argument takes place over how badly disco sucks, one girl says disco is so popular, it wouldn't surprise her if KISS made a disco record one day (let's see, it's 1978...wonder what was released in '79). A few clever things like that pepper the screenplay, which is cool.
Where the film disappoints is the immaturity of the movie. It's obvious the producers wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator of fans. The script is a total hack job, but that's okay. "American Pie" was too, but it worked because they hacked good movies. Same here. But the direction really could have used some help. Rifkin uses some camera techniques that were totally gratituitous. It felt like watching a kid who gets his first video camera and can't stop playing with it. AS for the general direction of the story, I just think they could have made a much better movie if they would have taken a different route in presenting the material. For instance, Jeremiah's mom, essentially the villain in the movie, is preposterously over-the-top (I'm talking Jon Voight-in-Varsity Blues-kind-of over-the-top). Now many of the potential ticket-buyers for this film can relate to having a mom who may have been a total bitch at times (especially relating to music), so that's an effective story element. But in "Detroit" I don't think it works as well as it could have.
I know it sounds like I'm really bitching hard about a movie I said earlier was a blast, but really, overall, I thought "Detroit" was very enjoyable. Any KISS fan out there will enjoy it, and even some non-fans too. I just expected something different. Honestly, I expected a movie that would have been good enough to finally get the band the respect they deserved from all the people who have been ragging on them for years. I saw a sharp, clever film as the opportunity to finally get the critics off KISS' back. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen. But, to look on the bright side, the movie is an unabashed homage to a great band. And despite the flaws, that counts for a lot in my book.
Ciao.......'Nole
