Detroit Rock City (1999)

reviewed by
Jon Popick


PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com

On paper it sounds horrible. A cast of virtual unknowns, a director (Adam Rifkin) whose biggest hit was The Chase, a story thinner than even Runaway Bride, and the debut script from a guy (Carl V. Dupré) who was the assistant editor of classics like Top Dog, Leprechaun 2 and Barb Wire. Did I mention that it also was about KISS? Despite all of this, Detroit Rock City is surprisingly fresh and funny.

The meager plot, which evokes memory of another guilty pleasure, The Ramones' Rock ‘n' Roll High School, involves four Michigan shop class squares from Robert F. Kennedy High who desperately try to attend a KISS concert in Detroit. Of course, they also have their own band – Mystery - that have had only one ill-fated gig during which singer Hawk (Edward Furlong, Pecker) got stage fright and passed out. Much of the film's focus is on Jam (Sam Huntington, Jungle2Jungle), who finds his musical tastes clash with his mother's (Lin Shaye, There's Something About Mary) religious beliefs – she's even a member of M.A.T.M.O.K. (Mothers Against the Music of KISS). Rounding out the foursome are Trip (James DeBello, TV's The ‘60s) and Lex (Giuseppe Andrews, Never Been Kissed).

Set in 1978 amongst the height of KISS hysteria, Detroit Rock City opens with a wonderful montage of ‘70s pop culture images that run over the opening credits. We learn that the four protagonists have tickets for that night's concert, but those tickets are discovered by Jam's mom, who immediately burns them and enrolls her son in a private school, St. Bernard's Veil of Tears.

When Trip wins four front-row-center tickets from a radio contest, he, Hawk and Lex ditch class, narrowly escape Elvis the school security guard (who resembles Wolverine from The X-Men), and proceed to bust Jam out of his Catholic hell by lacing the headmaster's pizza with hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Their drive to Detroit is marred by an ugly incident involving a gold Trans-Am containing four disco-loving Italians – one of which (Natasha Lyonne, American Pie) ends up riding with the boys. Once they arrive in the big city, adventures include a male strip club, convenience store robbery, sex in a church confessional and a pack of angry junkyard dogs, as well as romantic interests in the form of Shannon Tweed (Mrs. Gene Simmons) and Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures). By the way, Lyonne and Lynskey are respectively named `Christine' and `Beth,' both names of KISS songs.

The picture's ending includes a live pyrotechnic performance from KISS (the actual original band), which will leave any red-blooded American between the ages of 30 and 40 squealing with delight. At least those Americans that didn't own any ABBA records. (1:32 - R or strong language, drug use, nudity and sex-related content)


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