Tenacious D in The Pick of
Destiny (also known as Kings of Rock:
Tenacious D in Germany
) is a
comedy/rock musical set in the 1990s, starring Tenacious D, an American satirical rock duo that
features Jack Black and Kyle Gass. It is directed by musician and
puppeteer
Liam Lynch. All
three of them are also listed as the writers of the film. The film
was released on November 22, 2006. Publicity for the film involved
a tagline "The Greatest Motion Picture of All Time".
Plot
As a kid, Jack Black (JB or "Jables") leaves his strictly religious
family in Kickapoo, Missouri for Hollywood on a quest to form the
world's most awesome rock band. After going through every other
Hollywood in the United States, a fullgrown Jables meets acoustic
guitarist Kyle Gass (KG or "Kage") who is performing on the street,
and begins worshipping him as a rock god because of his skills and
attitude. While KG at first spurns JB, tossing his pick at him, he
pretends to save him from a
Clockwork Orange-esque gang
that beat him up that night and takes him back to his "pad", where
he pretends to be famous with a self-named band "The Kyle Gass
Project", and exploits him to do work such as cleaning his
apartment and buying him weed with the promise of an audition for
his fictitious band. JB eventually learns that KG is actually
unemployed and bald, living off rent checks from his mother (which
she announces are going to stop). However the two become equal when
Kage reveals he used the last of his rent money to pay JB a
brand-new guitar decorated with religious symbols. Vowing to help
his new friend, JB and KG create their own band: Tenacious D, named
for birthmarks found on their butt cheeks (Jack Black has a
birthmark which says: "Tenac", and Kyle Gass has a mark which
reads: "ious D").
Soon JB and KG learn the deepest secret of rock: all the rock
legends used the same guitar pick: The Pick of Destiny. It was
created by a dark wizard from a piece of Satan's tooth, as a gift
to a blacksmith who saved the wizard's life from the great demon.
The pick gives its holder "supranatural" abilities with stringed
instruments ('supranatural' being "a whole level above
supernatural"). Infatuated by the prospect of becoming the next
great rock star, JB immediately sets Tenacious D on a quest to
steal the Pick of Destiny from a rock history museum. Along the
way, the band briefly splits up when, invited by some coeds to
perform at a party, KG decides that sex comes first in "sex, drugs
and rock 'n' roll", while JB wants to stick to the mission at hand.
The duo is reunited after KG's solo performance at the party ends
up in failure and JB has a mushroom-induced
hallucinogen experience in which he encounters
Sasquatch and cavorts with him through the
forest (actually risking his life several times).
The two manage to steal the Pick of Destiny due to the incompetent
security guards at the rock museum (who are all high on
marijuana). Armed with this supranatural pick,
they plan to use the winnings from a local bar's talent contest to
pay their rent, but before they can go on stage, greed overcomes
them, and they fight over the pick, accidentally snapping it in
half. After a pep-talk from the open mic night host, they decide
they are good enough to go onto the contest without the pick, not
knowing that the host is Satan in human form, looking for his
missing tooth. Coming back outside (deciding they can both use half
of the pick), they are confronted by Satan (
Dave Grohl), who is "complete" when he places the
Pick of Destiny back on his broken tooth, regaining the ability to
use his supranatural powers on Earth and intending to take everyone
to Hell starting with Tenacious D.
To save their lives, Tenacious D challenge Satan to a "rock-off",
which he is forced to accept according to the "Demon Code," terms
being that he returns to Hell and pays their rent if Tenacious D
wins and take KG as his sex slave if they lose. While JB and KG
perform admirably, ultimately they lose and Satan attempts to shoot
KG with a bolt of lightning. JB jumps in the way, and the bolt
bounces off his guitar, blowing off a piece of Satan's horn. JB is
able to exploit Satan's "incompleteness" in order to banish him
back to Hell, with the devil screaming his vow of vengence on
Tenacious D while being sucked back into Hell. Though the two
forgot how what may be "
The Greatest Song
in the World" went, the two turn Satan's horn into the
"
Bong of Destiny" and smoke from it as they
write new songs. A post credits scene shows the duo sitting, trying
to think of a song. Kage thinks he has one, but instead
farts.
Cast
Various actors have cameos, including
Amy
Poehler,
Colin Hanks,
Amy Adams,
Fred
Armisen, and
Neil
Hamburger.
Box office
The film
performed poorly at the box office, only grossing a total of $8.2
million in the United
States
. It debuted with a mere $3 million during
its opening weekend at number eleven. With a budget of $20,000,000
the film is considered a financial failure because it was not able
to gross half the cost of production. In the fifth week after its
release, the movie only earned $50,000 and virtually vanished from
theaters. DVD sales outnumbered the box office receipts, totaling
over $9 million. Prior to filming, Black and Gass each received
$500,000 and were to share 10% of the total revenue of the film.
This means that each of them earned about $865,000 from the
project. This movie is rated R for pervasive language, sexual
content, and drug usage.
Critical Reception
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny polarized critics. The
film holds a 53% at
Rotten Tomatoes,
with most commentators unimpressed by the film's low-brow humor.
Michael Phillips criticized the frequency of the drug-use by
saying: "This may be the problem. Pot rarely helped anybody's comic
timing." Stephen Holden of
The
New York Times suggested that the film could be viewed as
a "jolly rock 'n' roll comedy", but he also described the
progression of the film as being a "garish mess." Many critics felt
that the film tried to stretch too little comic material into too
long of a movie--and that the 93 minute running time feels long.
However, most commentators agreed that any fans of Tenacious D's
music--or Jack Black's rather frenetic acting style--would no doubt
appreciate and enjoy the movie.
Music
The
soundtrack, the band's second
album, includes vocals by
Ronnie James
Dio and
Meat Loaf.
Dave Grohl plays
drums on
the album, as he did on their first album,
Tenacious D (2001). Grohl also
contributes his vocals on "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)".
The
score by Andrew Gross, John King and
Trainwreck, More
Rocktastic Music from the Film, was released in limited
quantities to Wal-Mart
stores. They have made an original soundtrack from the movie
also.
See also
References
- Rotten Tomatoes: Box Office Summary
-
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tenacious_d_in_the_pick_of_destiny/
External links
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