He plays that rock cliché to absolute perfection but is also able to provide flashes of the jaded human being underneath the mascara and leopard print. Tom Cruise – who was well on the way to becoming a megastar himself during the 80s – is utterly fantastic as the barking mad, burnt-out sex god Stacee Jaxx. The two good-looking leads – Footloose remake star Julianne Hough and Mexican singer Diego Boneta – are perfunctory at best, but they are more than ably supported by a cast that is completely open to embracing the preposterous nature of it all. Tom Cruise and Malin Åkerman singing Foreigner’s ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ Some of these are delivered in mash-up versions – a device derived from the actual stage show – and this proves to be both surprisingly effective and nowhere near as jarring as you’d expect. The tunes themselves represent a ‘best of’ from many of the iconic bands of that time. The serviceable plot exists mainly as a means of linking one musical set piece to the next, but both the songs and the performers singing them are woven into the narrative in inventive and fun ways. Veteran choreographer Adam Shankman – who directed the well-received Hairspray remake – manages to capture that ridiculously hedonistic and bloated time period in all its mulleted, back-combed glory, setting it in a garish, neon-filled fantasy land that resembles a theme park version of the Sunset Strip, rather than the real thing. Russell Brand as The Bourbon Room employee, Lonny Barnett This is a rather unfair grouping, as right from the very beginning of the film, where the wide-eyed heroine first sets foot into the fabled land of 80s Los Angeles, through to the grand finale on the stage of a packed-out stadium tour, this frenzied rock pantomime is a heady guilty pleasure.
Generally found in that latter group of stinkers is the 2012 film version of poodle-haired, spandex-clad jukebox musical Rock Of Ages. For every audience-pleasing box-office smash ( Mamma Mia!, Chicago, Dreamgirls) there are lacklustre offerings such as Rent, Jersey Boys and Nine. Adapting popular Broadway musicals for the big screen has always proved to a tricky prospect.