Part Cheech and Chong and part sketch comedy, a little bit Disney and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, this cheerfully stitched-together pastiche is happy to do whatever it takes to entertain you.
By: Elise Nakhnikian
Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny is one of those movies that looks like it was a lot more fun to make than it is to watch.
An inchoate but energetic and likeable romp, it plays like a teenage boy’s fantasy, circa 1980. Stars and co-writers Jack Black and Kyle Gass play characters of the same names (though they usually go by their initials) who strum their acoustic guitars with more enthusiasm than talent, dreaming of playing electric guitar in "the world’s greatest rock band."
Black and Gass created these two overgrown boys and their band, Tenacious D, about a decade ago in The Actors Gang, an experimental theater group started by actor Tim Robbins in Los Angeles. Tenacious D has played real gigs and sold real CDs and music DVDs, but it’s more of a performance art project than a band. As such, it has been the subject of three half-hour HBO features and a documentary about life on the road that was directed by Liam Lynch, the director and co-writer of The Pick of Destiny. Tenacious D even has a fictional fan, Lee the pizza delivery guy (J.R. Reed), who appeared in the TV shows and pops up in this movie as well.
Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny starts like a rock opera, almost all the words sung rather than spoken. Young J.B. (Troy Gentile, who also played a young Jack Black in Nacho Libre), oppressed by his conservative father (Meat Loaf), looks to rock as his salvation. Then he heads off to Hollywood and we fast forward to Black himself as the older but no wiser J.B. in L.A.
It’s hero worship at first sight when the credulous J.B. hears Gass performing for pocket change on Venice Beach, but Black eventually figures out that Gass has nothing to teach him. He turns the tables in. After a mildly funny scene spoofing all those training scenes you’ve seen in movies, in which Black whips Gass into shape by saying things like "stop judging yourself. You’re judging yourself. That’s why this riff sucks," the two become equal partners, forming Tenacious D and setting out in search of a magic guitar pick that will transform them instantly into great musicians. In pursuit of the pick, they get into more or less entertaining adventures in an episodic plot whose new sections are announced with Tarot-style title cards.
Black has enough John Belushi-style energy and wild-eyed charisma to be a bona fide rock star. His voice is pretty good too, but he exaggerates things just enough to be funny, cocking his eyebrows, flashing his crazed gremlin grin, and rocking robotically back and forth. His Tenacious D performances, like Belushi’s impression of Joe Cocker, fall halfway between a fan’s tribute and a bemused comedian’s affectionate ribbing.
Gass’ performance is pure deadpan, more Spinal Tap than Belushi. Practically talentless as a musician, with his huge paunch, mincing walk and sad long-haired wig hiding male pattern baldness, the Kyle of Tenacious D is the ultimate anti-rocker (though in real life Gass is apparently a good musician who heads up a serious band).
More comic relief is provided by Ben Stiller, who plays a self-dramatizing guitar-store salesman with a wild white-man’s Afro; Amy Poehler, as a depressed waitress; and Robbins, who does a funny bit involving his character’s crutches, as a creepy guy who wants the pick Gass and Black are after.
Part Cheech and Chong and part sketch comedy, a little bit Disney and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, this cheerfully stitched-together pastiche is happy to do whatever it takes to entertain you. But its humor, like its main characters, is pretty juvenile, heavy on fart jokes, sight gags about getting high, and references to rock performances as epic battles, and that’s a problem.
Not many people over the age of 40 are going to find that stuff very funny but hardly anyone under the age of 40 is likely to relate to the boys’ dream of becoming heavy metal gods. Which is why, I suspect, the people who made this movie are its most appreciative audience.
Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content, and drug use.

