Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 2 ratings
In Venice Beach, naive Midwesterner JB bonds with local slacker KG and they form the rock band Tenacious D. Setting out to become the world's greatest band is no easy feat, so they set out to steal what could be the answer to their prayers... a magical guitar pick housed in a rock-and-roll museum some 300 miles away.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny is a gloriously absurd, one-of-a-kind rock comedy that defies easy categorization. Its Novelty is genuinely exceptional — the film is an unhinged blend of stoner comedy, rock mythology, musical fantasy, and self-aggrandizing bromance that only Tenacious D could have conceived. Jack Black and Kyle Gass commit fully to the bit, bringing earnest energy to completely ridiculous material, lifting the Acting above average. The Plot is thin and episodic, essentially a loose road-trip framework hanging together a series of set pieces, and it doesn't hold up strongly as a narrative. The Cinematography is functional but unremarkable — competent genre work with some fun stylistic flourishes in the fantasy sequences but nothing distinguished. The Ending, featuring a climactic battle with Satan (Dave Grohl), is memorably silly and lands the film's central joke well enough, though it doesn't quite stick the resolution.