Chris 'Izzy' Pole is a hardcore fan of a famous rock band named "Steel Dragon" and passionately sings the lead for a tribute band called "Blood Pollution". One day he gets a call from the agent of "Steel Dragon" to come an audition for the band as the lead singer and he's ecstatic. When he passes the audition he gains instant fame but soon learns it's not all it's cracked up to be.
    Hyped to a lukewarm level, this was a loosely based semi-biographical tale. The movie is actually pretty entertaining considering the material. The movie takes place in the eighties during the infamous "Hair Band" era when stylish rock bands polluted the charts. Mark Wahlberg is good in this movie giving his usual adequate performance but is still very entertaining; he's very convincing in his eighties garb and long hair and he's really comical at times. Jennifer Aniston plays Emily Coule, the manager and girlfriend of Izzy's band and is probably the best thing in this movie giving a lot of spunk and charisma in her role. She's the tribute band's manager and often manages them with some steel balls, so to speak. At one point she rips the underwear from one of her band mates which had me laughing. She's also very comical at times whether she knows it or not, often reacting to her scenery and the barrage of hot groupies wanting to get into bed with Walhberg's character. She gives a lot of hilarious expressions and sarcastic comebacks that had me chuckling. The story itself is nothing new but is still very interesting as we find out the fantasy career he dreamed of isn't as incredible as he dreamt of. The writer's give some good material and never pull any punches as Walhberg's character evolves throughout the entire flick.

One major fault of this is the incredibly watered down and cliché plotline. I've seen these plot devices and characters in a lot of other and better rock biographical movies before. I guessed every plot point that would happen before it happened and I was never surprised nor impressed. The story starts off with less than interesting characters like Wahlberg's who isn't that likeable and his band mates which aren't emphasized so we never get to care for them. We know everything that happens. We know he's going to be discovered, we know he becomes famous, we know the fame gets in the way of his relationship with yummy Aniston, we know he gets sick of the biz, and so on. I wasn't impressed with the band's music which sounds so much like eighties music it was creepy but there wasn't anything I could tap my feet to. A lot of the events within the movie are lame and very uninteresting including the party scene where the group has an orgy which is only insinuated and not shown. Considering this has a R rating I'm surprised there was never anything truly graphic or blunt in the entire story. Inevitably there's a really sappy ending and musical sequence that not only left me nauseous but also felt very contrived and far-fetched to even feel happy.

This is a watered down, lukewarm and very clichéd movie with the usual plot devices, a sappy ending and one-dimensional supporting characters, but it entertains despite it all.