Tenacious D : The Pick of Destiny

Review by Clint Morris

They may be the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest band in the world’, but sadly, Tenacious D’s movie isn’t the foot stomping; audience cheering; head-swaying monster of pleasure that [actor/musicians] Jack Black and Kyle Gass intended to be. 

Not to say the first foray on film for the ‘D’ is bad, it isn’t, far from it in fact; it’s just if it were a musical act – this ‘Pic’ would be little more than an entertaining but nondescript warm-up act, unable to compete with the big boys – in other words, the comedies of Dave Dobkin, Adam McKay, Todd Phillips; and so on – that the audience is hankering for. I guess you’d say it’s a rare case where we would’ve actually liked to hear more of the ‘new material’.

This is the totally fictitious story of how the band (something Black does between acting gigs) came together.  JB (Black) and KG (Gass) meet on Venice beach and start jamming on the spot, making it evidently clear that they should be taking the world by storm with their musical two-hander. Knowing how hard it is to win people over, they decide they need a little helping hand – and eye off a magical guitar ‘Pic’, situated some 300 miles away, which they plan on stealing. And, well, that’s about it.

Written and Directed by music-video veteran Liam Lynch, this is a film with the kind of juvenile laughs you’ll have at a 21st. Every gag is either to do with smoking grass, tits, the power of the penis or playing the devil’s music [literally]. Lowbrow indeed, but you could say the same about the band – and they do have an audience. So, it goes without saying - if you love the band, you’ll love the movie. Unquestionably.

There are some very funny moments in here. Scenes with young JB (the perfectly cast Troy Gentile) and his dissaproving father (Meatloaf) are just gold; and the finale, involving the boys in a rock out with The Devil (Dave Grohl) is bound to put a smile on your dial.

Just a pity there couldn’t be more scenes like those. The guts of the film are pretty flat. There are a couple of cameos (Tim Robbins, Ben Stiller, Colin Hanks and Amy Adams) here and there to keep you interested, but the jokes are toenail thin. There’s a huge section of the movie where you’ll be hard pressed to smack the giggle box into gear. Black and Gass try their best, and the storyline itself is fine, but there’s a real deficiency of good jokes. Maybe if New Line had given Lynch the extra few months he was supposed to have on the film – the studio decided to push the release date forward – he’d have been able to throw in some better gags and do some cutting and replacing of scenes. In its current form, it stinks of a film not being able to live up to its full potential.

Still, a couple of brewskies and some Pizza, and this will unquestionably keep the tweens entertained.
When it all comes down to it, it was a film that was never going to change the world anyway, - as JB reminds us “What we got’s gonna turn your brain into shit” – so why waste a poison dart?

3 out of 5

Tenacious D : The Pick of Destiny
Australian release: 9th November, 2006
Cast: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Amy Poehler, Tim Robbins, Ronnie James Dio
Director: Liam Lynch
Website: Click here.