Despite a terrific opening and some pretty darn good music there’s something desperately wrong with Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. Parody, fart jokes, and a stoner two-some can only take you so far, ask Kevin Smith. Actually the film feels quite like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I’m all for copying Smith’s style, but couldn’t you have done one of his better films?
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
3 Stars
It’s not as bad as I feared it would be, but it’s nowhere near as good as it should be. Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny tells the “true story” of how the band got together and discovered their talent. The thing is, there just isn’t much talent in the film. It steals most of its bits and moments by parodying other films, held together by dick and fart jokes, rather than craft a coherent and compelling story. Well, at least it’s not Nacho Libre.
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The first ten minutes of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny rock. In an ode to rock opera, the film opens in a flashback scene as the young JB (voiced by Jack Black) is chastised by his father (Meat Loaf) for his his love of Rock. Having his posters taken and his hide tanned, the youngster heads out to find the land of Rock, Hollywood. (It’s bad for a film when your best moments all come in the first ten minutes.)
Years later JB finally reaches his destination and meets up with a fellow musician, KG (Kyle Gass), who agrees to train him. Insert many parodies from Star Wars to the Karate Kid here. Finally the two become a band, naming themselves after the matching birthmarks on their asses. Um, yeah…
The band struggles for an audience despite their “awesomeness.” When a guitar shop owner (Ben Stiller) tells the legend of a magic guitar pick made from the tooth of Satan (David Grohl) the two set out to the Rock Museum (conveniently relocated to Sacramento for the movie) to steal the pick and earn fame and glory.
The film isn’t much of a story, there’s the intro to the characters, the long training scenes, and the trip to steal the pick, all of which contain countless parodies from other films, music, television, and more. The list contains Entrapment, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and many others.
There’s just such little original content here it’s hard to view the film as anything more than a funnier than avearage 93 minute SNL sketch, with a couple of good hosts and musical guests.
Despite some funny bits and some pretty good animation sequence and title cards there’s little here that’s memorable. You’ll laugh, you’ll groan, but leaving the theater you’ll promptly forget about the film, about the wasted potential, and the broken promise of “awesomeness” those first ten minutes. Sure you’ll enjoy yourself, but in the end, there’s just not enough there worth remembering.