Detroit Rock City

Summary

“This is about pizza…. Can we try to leave KISS out of it?’

Directed by Adam Rifkin, Detroit Rock City is a 1999 adolescent slacker road-trip comedy that takes place in 1978. The screenplay was written by Carl V. Dupre, a true fan of the band KISS. The film was produced for $17 million, and it was a critical and commercial failure. It only did roughly $6 million at the worldwide box office, but over the years it has continued to find fans on DVD and Blu-ray. I remember seeing it when it first came out on DVD, but I don’t remember revisiting it since. With a quarter century past, I was ready to watch Detroit Rock City again. Sony Pictures has given their 2015 Blu-ray a re-release for those who originally missed it.

Cleveland, Ohio – 1978 – A conservative religious woman, Mrs. Bruce (Lin Shaye) pours a glass of wine and walks downstairs to put on a Carpenter’s record and read a book. She grabs a record out of the sleeve, places it on the player, and sits down. The music blares from the record player, causing her to spill her wine. It is KISS’s “Love Gun” record. She is disgusted that “the devil’s music” is playing in her home.

Three blocks away… a group of close friends – Hawk (Edward Furlong,) Lex (Giuseppe Andrews,) Trip (James DeBello,) and Jeremiah a.k.a.Jam (Sam Huntington,) – are practicing in a cover band called MYSTERY. They are covering their favorite band – KISS. The four friends have only one more day of school before they plan to drive to Detroit to see KISS live. Mrs. Bruce shows up at the house and drags Jam out of there. She throws away his copy of “Love Gun” before they head home. The next morning, the guys can’t find their four KISS tickets. They phone Jam and luckily he has the tickets in his jean jacket that he wore the night before. He plans to see them at school and give them the tickets. Unfortunately, Mrs. Bruce hovers over Jam while he changes into the clothes she bought him. Jam heads to school without the tickets. While Jam is in class with a girl named Beth (Melanie Lynskey) just about to admit her feelings for him, a message comes over the loudspeaker. Jeremiah’s mom has found the tickets. She sets the tickets on fire to light a cigarette and tells Jeremiah that he will be going to St. Bernard’s boarding school. The film follows the adventures of the four slackers as they try to get tickets, borrow Lex’s parents’ Volvo, and make their way to the KISS concert.

Detroit Rock City is a love letter to the fandom for the band KISS. Written by a superfan and directed by a superfan, the picture definitely captures the zeitgeist of what it was like to love that band in the late Seventies. Detroit Rock City is not about realism. It is a slapstick stoner comedy that revels in nostalgia for the bygone days of 1978, while also reveling in sexcapades and gross out gags. The film’s script has plenty of laughs along the way, but it is also unapologetically juvenile in its humor approach. For myself, it does just enough to work overall, but it doesn’t reach the heights of more restrained and realistic nostalgia films like Dazed and Confused or Everybody Wants Some!! The humor is firmly stuck in the fanboy fantasy mode of kids disobeying the overbearing religious adults so they can pursue booze, sex, and rock and roll. Therefore, I completely understand why critical reception was somewhat tepid. By laughing at the juvenile humor in the movie, you are almost giving in to your more base instincts, and that in itself can make an audience uncomfortable. That said, there are plenty of moments that did make me laugh – especially in the final moments of the film which I thought were very clever.

The cast of the film for the most part handles their roles well. James DeBello is convincingly skeevy as Trip. I later enjoyed him in Eli Roth’s movie Cabin Fever. Giuseppe Andrews plays Lex with swagger. He also played a role in Cabin Fever – my favorite role in that film. Sam Huntington does well as Jeremiah. Edward Furlong has his moments in the picture, but I found some of his acting a bit awkward. Then again, maybe that helped to emphasize the youth of the characters onscreen, so it may have helped the film in some ways. Natasha Lyonne has a fun role as a girl who ditches her disco friends when they act too macho. Melanie Lynskey is enjoyable in an early role as Beth. Adult film actress (and long term girlfriend of Gene Simmons) Shannon Tweed shows up for a memorable side-plot in the film. Joe Flaherty, Ron Jeremy, Kevin Corrigan, and KISS themselves all make cameo appearances. For the most part I liked Rifkin’s over-the-top handling of the material. His directing style aligns with the script well. Cinematographer John R. Leonetti does a solid job of translating that energy onscreen. The soundtrack to the film is phenomenal with tracks by KISS, AC/DC, Ted Nugent, T. Rex, UFO, Thin Lizzy, and more. It helps the pacing of the picture to maintain its momentum as the boys head to the show.

Detroit Rock City is probably a bit too juvenile to appeal to everyone, but it is a road trip movie that I could revisit again in the future.

Video

Presented in 2.40:1 aspect ratio in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode, Detroit Rock City looks good on Blu-ray. This is a reprint of the disc from 2015, and the transfer still holds up. The picture had a pretty sizable budget for a slacker comedy, and cinematographer John R. Leonetti shoots in widescreen to take in as many period details from the production design as possible. Fans of the picture should be really happy with how the film looks.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is very good. The film has a truly amazing soundtrack that is given prominent placement in the speakers. Dialogue is clear. This track shows off those seventies rock and roll classics very well.

Supplements:

Audio Commentary #1 – director Adam Rifkin

Audio Commentary #2 – cast and crew of the film

Audio Commentary #3 – all four original members of KISS

Deleted Scenes

The Cutting Room Floor

Look Into The Sun

Miscellaneous Shit

Music Videos – Everclear and The Donnas

Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 3.75/5

Detroit Rock City was critically and financially a disappointment at the time of its release, but fans of the picture will be happy to see that Sony has re-released their 2015 Blu-ray (which is OOP and pricey.) While the picture is somewhat immature and vulgar, I still had some good laughs watching the film – especially its finale. Fans of the picture are going to be happy with how the film looks and especially with how the soundtrack sounds on Blu-ray.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.