You don't have to be a munchie-loving stoner or an aspiring rock god to enjoy Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, but it helps. A dozen years after they introduced their mock-rock power duo on the Los Angeles club scene, Jack Black and Kyle Gass finally got the movie showcase (a partial spinoff from the D's short-lived HBO series) their fans had been waiting for, and it's a rockin' romp with plenty of crude laughs that will hit home for anyone who's ever played air guitar to Meat Loaf's "Bat out of Hell." It's a Beavis and Butt-head-like origin story, recalling the legend (ahem) of how JB (Black) and KG (Gass) met, bonded over bong-hits and rock-operatic guitar licks, then set out (on a tip from a crazed guitar-store clerk played by Ben Stiller) to find the mythic pick of destiny, used by all guitar gods and said to be fashioned from the tooth of Satan. Their quest includes a variety of well-cast cameos (including Tim Robbins, Meat Loaf, and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl as Satan himself), and there's plenty of flatulence, drug humour, at least one hilarious fantasy sequence, and outrageous sight gags too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say, it's about 90 minutes of lowbrow indulgence, and some of the jokes fall flat, but if you're a headbanger at heart, you'll know what Tenacious D is riffing on, and the sweet licks will sound that much sweeter. If you're not ready to RAWK, this potential cult favorite may not be for you... but give it try anyway. It may not be better than Citizen Kane, but if you're properly stoked, it comes close to rock & roll heaven. --Jeff Shannon
Jack Black and Kyle Gass’s Tenacious D began life on an amusing yet little-seen TV series about the band, which featured an array of comedy songs and glimpses into the personal lives of this hard-working outfit. But Black and Gass always had ambitions to take the Tenacious D concept further, so after a hefty bout of touring and recording comes the natural next step in their plans for world domination--a full-length feature film. The movie is directed by long-time collaborator Liam Lynch, and follows the duo as their megalomaniacal plans for the band burst into life. The film begins with a step back in time, where we find Black travelling to California with a head full of rock & roll dreams, and Gass strumming away on a lonely sidewalk. Once Black and Gass meet, they recognize that their Black Sabbath-sized dreams will only be realized if they can get hold of a magical guitar pick belonging to a local rock & roll-themed museum. But the portly rockers find a sizable hole burnt into their plans when their attempts at stealing the pick are thwarted by its original owner--Beelzebub himself. Existing fans who have seen the original HBO show will doubtless recognize the bulk of this story, as most of the ideas in THE PICK OF DESTINY have been rehashed from older Tenacious D material. But it’s always a pleasure to see Jack Black embrace his inner rock god, and he frequently lets loose on the ridiculously silly songs that make up the Tenacious D oeuvre as the movie progresses. THIS IS SPINAL TAP still has the rock-satire genre tightly sewn up, but Black and Gass make a fun and entertaining addition to the canon with this first big-screen outing for Tenacious D. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------