I was born in 1975 - the same year, I've been told, that the KISS legend began. Being a mere zero years old at the time, I had trouble really appreciating their makeup and pyrotechnics and platform snake boots. So I am not of the KISS generation. Sure, I know a few people my age who had KISS lunch boxes when they were little, but I'm not sure how they knew about them. My most vivid KISS memory is of the time they decided to take off the makeup. So like much of '70s pop culture, what little I know about KISS comes through beach towels and trading cards and beat up plastic dolls at antique malls.
But I still loved DETROIT ROCK CITY, the new comedy about four stoned teenagers in 1978 overcoming great opposition to see KISS play live in Detroit. As far as my born-too-late-to-really-be-sure eyes can tell, the opening credits are the most accurate cinematic depiction to date of the appeal of '70s pop culture. Vivid closeups of merchandise and publicity stills take you on an epic rollercoaster ride through the land of Fonz and Hulk. Newspaper articles and fuzzy radio reports document the larger than life, comic book iconography of KISS. The time and place are set, and the movie never falters or steps out of character. You are in 1978, and you understand KISS.
Crucial to the movie's success is its dedication to the attitudes of archaic teen genres of the past. This is more like ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL than anything after FAST TIMES AT RIDGMONT HIGH. It seems odd that Paul Bartel doesn't make an appearance. From beginning to end, the characters find over-the-top ways to outrage the authorities, or to fulfill revenge fantasies. Girl's restrooms are defiled, lifelong crushes are consummated, bullies and car thieves are defeated or attacked by dogs. Modern teen movies often contain preposterous stick-it-to-the-man scenarios, and they don't work. Take, for example, the scene in SHE'S ALL THAT where Freddy Prinze, Jr. just has to ask and two bullies eat pubic-hair pizza in front of the whole school. In the context of a modern teen film, these scenes are embarrassing - they clash with reality on about 17 different levels. Do the filmmakers know how ludicrous these situations are? It doesn't seem like it. They seem to be trying to make something that modern teens can relate to. DETROIT ROCK CITY, though, takes a postmodernist approach, so you know that it's supposed to be absurd when Eddie Furlong, performing for middle aged women at a strip club, fills an entire beer pitcher with vomit and manages to arouse the crowd anyway. And you can laugh at the fantasy fulfillment of Furlong (who, by the way, still has cheese in his hair from an earlier incident) then being paid to have sex with erotic thriller queen Shannon Tweed. A word about vomit: because of the aforementioned scene, clueless critics will no doubt describe the humor as "grossout" and compare it to THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and AMERICAN PIE. But this is just one disgusting gag in the context of a deeply funny movie. It doesn't come across as a set-piece which other scenes are building toward or pale in comparison to. It also has a precedent in the work of director Adam Rifkin. In the obscure and underrated black comedy gem THE DARK BACKWARD, one of Bill Paxton's many vile hobbies is showing off to women by eating disgusting combinations rotten food. A lot of the humor also comes from the stylistic indulgences, beginning right off the bat with an electric guitar version of the New Line Cinema fanfare. Rifkin loads the movie with goofy camera movements and absurd period details (like Stretch Armstrong being used as a weapon). Also of note is the score by J. Peter Robinson, which attempts to elevate a scene of burning KISS tickets to the level of unspeakable tragedy. This is by far Rifkin's most masterful directorial work to date. He crafts what could be limp material for maximum laugh power. The tone of the pre-credits sequence reminds me of the Drew Barrymore opening in SCREAM. The scene involves the mother of one of the KISS-loving protagonists, played to perfection by Lynn Shaye (who was indelibly burned upon my memory in KINGPIN when she asked Woody Harrelson, "What is it about great sex that makes me have to crap?"). Home alone at night, she pours herself a drink, lights a cigarette, and chooses a Carpenter's record to put on and kick back in her recliner. The atmosphere is tense, but Shaye doesn't get attacked by a slasher - instead she's attacked by the quasi-outrageous rock 'n roll of KISS, whose record apparently was hidden inside the Carpenters' sleeve. Shaye's character is the primary villain of the piece, destroying the kids' tickets and dogging their quest every step of the way, even leading a Mothers Against the Music of KISS rally. The satanic threat of KISS seems quaint and silly by today's standards, so the outrage they cause is almost cute. As a result, DETROIT ROCK CITY joins SOUTH PARK and SUMMER OF SAM as this summer's accidentally topical films after the censorial hysteria caused by the Columbine high school shootings. The large cast is uniformly great. Sam Huntington is particularly likeable as Shaye's hapless son, who is emasculated by being forced to wear brand new K-Mart clothes to school. There are also small supporting roles for Natasha Lyonne and Melanie Lynskey (the less famous HEAVENLY CREATURE, but the one everyone likes the best).
I think part of the reason these characters are likable is the same reason they're funny: they worship KISS. It's obviously corny and it gets a lot of laughs on that level, but it's also something that can be easily related to. I think most interesting people have had something like KISS at some time in their life. For me it's KISS label-mates Parliament, for some people it might be a TV show or a movie star. You can almost join in their very genuine enthusiasm when they scream and jump up and down and high five each other as they take an elevator up to a radio station thinking their going to collect KISS tickets. And you can also laugh knowingly as they go back down ticketless, their shoulders slumped, the elevator music blaring, "If you like pina colada…"
This is a really well made movie. I'm a big fan of THE DARK BACKWARD, and I also really liked MOUSEHUNT (which Rifkin wrote). But I'm still surprised what a solid movie this is. I think it's the best comedy of the summer. I can only imagine what a blast it would be if I happened to have grown up a KISS fan.
--Bryan Frankenseuss Theiss
"I would like to thank all the rappers I influenced and helped out on their albums by giving them the inspiration to use my concepts." --Kool Keith, Black Elvis liner notes
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