Once you have proclaimed your band to be the greatest in the world, what else is there left to do? Make a movie, of course.That is exactly what the overweight middle-age rock group Tenacious D did, and, surprisingly, it didn’t suck.
The band is best known for the short comedy skits that first started airing on HBO in the late 1990s.
“Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny” sets out to portray how the band got its start.
It begins in the early 1990s with a young boy named Jack Black – although he preferred to go by JB instead – who left his home in Kickapoo, Mich., and traveled cross-country to Hollywood, Calif. in hopes of becoming a rock star.
It wasn’t even one minute after stepping off the bus that JB ran into fellow guitarist Kyle Gass, who promised to teach the wide-eyed JB everything he knew about the rock ‘n’ roll business.
It becomes abundantly clear very quickly that Gass actually knows next-to-nothing about the music business. The one thing going in favor of the newly formed band is that Gass can lay down some wicked guitar licks and JB knows how to wail like a full-fledged superstar.
The name Tenacious D came about when each band member dropped his pants to reveal his birthmark. When placed side-by-side, they spell out Tenacious D.
The band’s first appearance is during an open-mic night down at a local bar where the members proclaim themselves as the “Greatest Band in the World.”
Once they realize they are far from the greatest band ever, they begin to think about what they can improve when JB makes an astounding discovery. Three of the greatest bands in rock history all used the exact same guitar pick, thus naming it the “Pick of Destiny.”
The movie is not anything that will go down in history as being great, much like the band, but it is widely entertaining from the opening scene to the closing credits.
Much of the credit has to go to the supporting cast, who just makes cameo after cameo.
In what has to be the greatest casting decision in recent memory, Meat Loaf plays Jack Black’s father, and even sings the first song in the movie. It is scary how much these two men look and act alike.
Other notable guest roles include Ben Stiller as a guitar clerk who gives the back story of pick and Dave Grohl, who plays Satan and is after the pick for his own reasons.
All-in-all, “Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny” is just a fun movie. It doesn’t try to be anything more than it is, and that, in turn, is surprisingly refreshing.