The film is set in Los Angeles, 1987 and stars Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx, a spaced-out rock star who comes back to play The Bourbon Room, a fictional club which gave him and his band 'Arsenal' their big break. The club is in a financial crisis and on the verge of closing, much to the dismay of owner Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) and his technical assistant, Lonny (Russell Brand). Dupree must rely on Stacee's gig to save the club, all the while Stacee's band is on the verge of splitting up, much to the delight of his greedy manager (Paul Giamatti).
The film features different plotlines, the main one being about small-town innocent girl Sherrie Christian (Dancing with the Stars' Julianne Hough), falling for Bourbon Room barback Drew Boley (Diego Boneta). In true Hollywood style, it's your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, they go their seperate ways and then they just so happen to come back together and reconcile their love.
If it weren't so important, the film could have done away with the love story, as it was boring and made the film drag for quite a while. The only thing delightful about the whole Sherrie/Drew storyline was Mary J. Blige who plays gentleman's club owner Justice Charlier. She acts as a mentor for Sherrie, who later works there as a stripper and tells her she can have it "any way you want it."
Catherine-Zeta Jone stars as the LA mayor's wife Patrica Whitmore, whose history with Staccee Jaxx has made her bitter and she threatens to destroy rock 'n' roll by cleaning up the city and turning the Bourbon Room into condos. As her character sums up the rock 'n' roll fiasco: "Stacee Jaxx spits out three things... sex, hateful music and..... SEX!"
Stacee Jaxx's persona attracts women and he has a dedicated possee of girl groupies following him around. However he seems intrigued by Rolling Stone reporter, Constance Sack (Malin Akerman) who confronts him over his unreliability and laziness, but eventually succumbs and falls for his roguish charm.
The cast all have surprissingly strong vocals belting out glam rock hits from the late 80's with souful Mary J. Blige outshining them all. After watching the film, there are some hits, which will never be heard in the same way again. These include Tom Cruise and Malin Akeran belting out 'I Want to Know What Love Is' while performing some *ahem* suggestive moves and Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand crooning to 'I Can't Fight this Feeling Anymore'. The odd pairing of Baldwin/Brand gives the film a more humorous approach and sometimes wishing the film was more about them than anything else.
Cruise has the definitive rock star voice, which was achieved by having five hours of rehearsals every day before and during filming.
If you're a fan of musicals, then do check out Rock of Ages. The film's storylines may seem a bit muddled, but that is overshadowed by the jukebox hits of Foreigner, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Journey, which encourages you to don't stop believin'.
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