Detroit Offers a Mixed Bag: A Movie Review of Detroit Rock City

By Andrew Bender

It's 1978, the era of Richie Cunningham and President Carter. In Cleveland, a motherly type (the talented Jewish actress Lin Shaye) sits down in her recliner to have a quiet drink and listen to her favorite Carpenters record. Instead she is jolted out of her seat by KISS, that era's megagroup, ye of ghoulish black-and white makeup and black vinyl clothing, from an LP hidden in a Carpenters jacket. To this woman, KISS is "the Devil's music," and this incident starts her on a rampage.

Her son Jeremiah -- "Jam" to his friends -- looks so angelic that you'd never peg him for a KISS freak. Jam (Sam Huntington, Jungle2Jungle) and his three Midwestern high-school rocker buddies -- Hawk (Edward Furlong of American History X fame), Trip (newcomer James De Bello) and Lex (Giuseppe Andrews, Unstrung Heroes) have a basement band that plays KISS nonstop (what else?), and their dream is to go to Detroit to see KISS in concert.

But it all goes up in smoke when Jam's mother (played with wonderful malice by Shaye, who is Magda in There's Something About Mary) finds the KISS tickets and burns the devil out of them. From that point on in Detroit Rock City--directed by Adam Rifkin, whose writing credits include Mouse Hunt and Small Soldiers -- the boys embark on a wild adventure, doing whatever they can to make that concert. Jam's mom, of course, tries to prevent them from getting there at all.

It's worth noting that the film Detroit Rock City--named after a tune from the KISS "Love Gun" album--is produced by Gene Simmons, co-founding member of the legendary rock group. (See accompanying interview).

Interestingly, Jam's mom is Catholic, and while there are no anti-Semitic overtones to her KISS-phobia, (founding member Gene Simmons is Jewish) the Catholic Church comes out looking sanctimonious and hypocritical. Also slammed are Italian-Americans (one played quite winningly by Natasha Lyonne of Slums of Beverly Hills). Incidentally, Lyonne also played Woody Allen's daughter in his musical film Everyone Says I Love You.

The four boys go in search of tickets, but along the way they also overcome demons--parents, stagefright and violent tendencies. They also learn about hard work, camaraderie, girls and taking a stand. Who would have thought that you could learn all that from KISS?

But a big selling point of this movie is KISS, which, even in its heyday, I always found kind of repellent. If the movie is any indication, the band hasn't changed much, and the group is nowhere near as popular now, although apparently they're experiencing some kind of resurgence-- he band was the focus of the rockumentary "KISS: The Second Coming" and apppeared in a special Halloween episode of "Millennium." Even so, KISS fans will be disappointed that this is not a two-hour KISS concert -- the concert's at the end, although the soundtrack is appealing, like a K-Tel commercial.

On the lighter side, Detroit Rock City also delivers some fun jabs at disco from the four teen KISS fans, and Lyonne's character Christine is a disco-lover who teaches the KISS-loving boys a couple of things about love in general. Otherwise, Detroit Rock City has a lot of the features that you'd expect to find in a movie about teenage boys--overuse of the F-word, lots of loud music, unnecessary roughness and some drug use, as well as a disturbing amount of teen smoking and binge drinking. In the film's most can't-believe-they-did-that sequence, Jam loses his virginity in a church confessional, with a Jewish girl no less (Melanie Lynskey).

Given all this, the big surprise is that this cinematic equivalent of an old pool hall is actually rather sweet, more after-school special than heavy metal. Deep down, it's a classic coming-of-age story.

The film's charms notwithstanding, those of us old enough to remember K-Tel commercials would probably skip it, my dad wouldn't get it, and I wouldn't want my teenage cousin to be exposed to it. She'd probably be bored anyway. What's more, the R rating will keep those most likely to resonate with the characters and situations-- disaffected junior high and high school kids -- out of the theaters. In the end, the biggest problem that Detroit Rock City might have is attracting a significant audience.

Director: Adam Rifkin, Screenwriter: Carl V. Dupré, Cast: Edward Furlong, Natasha Lyonne, Sam Huntington, Giuseppe Andrews, James De Bello, Lin Shaye and Shannon Tweed, as well as KISS band members Gene ("Demon") Simmons, Paul ("Starchild") Stanley, Ace ("Space") Frehley and Peter ("Catman") Criss.

Andrew Bender is Los Angeles-based writer who specializes in culture, travel and restaurants. He frequently contributes to The Los Angeles Times and Conde Nast Traveler. He is a sometime screenwriter.