There is no getting around the fact that Detroit Rock City is a pretty awful movie. The plot is actually a good one as far as doing a movie about KISS. It's not a stretch for kids wanting to go see them live back in the heyday of the 70's, which is when the story takes place and that right there is pretty much what the movie is about. It's the execution of the story that doesn't quite deliver and for me the biggest problem I have with the movie are the 4 actors playing the lead roles. They are horrible actors. Had they gotten 4 others to play their parts, I would be more likely to enjoy this. Kinda. It would still be a bad movie because the script is weak in its writing. The dialogue is pretty horrendous, not to mention the direction of the film as well.

So, if it's that bad then why do I keep the DVD that I have? Well, I keep it mainly for the bonus stuff that comes with it. The extras are good and there's more KISS stuff to be found as well. But getting back to the actors that I really despise. In one of the bonus segments, the band members of KISS are actually doing a photo shoot to promote the movie and off to the side, the 4 actors are being totally unprofessional, just f*cking around, being loud and obnoxious and wrestling each other. They were so irritating that Gene Simmons actually stops the photo shoot to yell and admonish them for acting the way they are. That in a nutshell is how they act in the movie. It's misleading to say that they were "acting" at all. Acting requires talent. Edward Furlong is an embarrassment. He peaked as an actor in T2: Judgement Day.

Even die-hard KISS fans other than myself would be hard-pressed to find anything good about this one. Well, the soundtrack does kick some major ass and it's not just KISS songs either. It's a who's who of 70's rock gods that marked the era such as AC/DC, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick and David Bowie just to name a few. So, the movie at least has that going for it. They at least got a cool opening credits sequence which I could watch over and over. Other than that, definitely a Skip.

Man, they'll just stick the honorific "Platinum" on anything these days, won't they?

Never saw the movie.  Don't think I ever planned on it either.

Outside of the acting, what would have made it work for you?  Is it a proper road trip adventure, all sorts of craziness abound?  In my head I have this thought "okay, it's Animal House meets Vacation in the 70s and it'll be oddball nuts."  But I know that ain't the case.  And the 70s are one of those things I just don't get because I wasn't born until the 80s, there's something in that youth culture that I missed and just can't get, it doesn't connect the same way.  Even though I get the whole obsession with sex and drugs and booze and all that, although I was never really big on ANY of those things (well, I was obsessed with sex, I just wasn't obsessed with HAVING sex since everyone else had pretty much paired up already), there's just part of me that doesn't 'get' it so these movies fall a little flat for me.

I gotcha.  Maybe with some character connection, friends discover a hidden layers about each other, maybe throw a little Stand By Me style.

Do you really need them to explain why they're KISS fans?  Weren't there a million of them in the 70s?  It was like breathing, if you were a kid in the 70s, as my understanding goes, you liked KISS.  Maybe it's the journey that means that much to them, one's about to move and wants one last adventure with his friends, one just got his car and wants to really USE that sucker.  He worked his butt off to get it.  Maybe that's as close as KISS has gotten to their hometown and they gotta make up the difference.  Maybe it's more about the idea of independence that the adventure brings out in them that they relish, we're doing something our parents can't understand, this is special, this is for us, and we're gonna do it and it's gonna be the time of our lives.  And without ubiquitous cameras or video, it's REALLY about having the experience and committing it to memory.