Adventures of Power (2007)

Adventures of PowerIn Adventures of Power our protagonist, Power, teeters between silly Napoleo Dynamite-like impersonation and seriously comedic acting--the kind seen in a Wes Anderson project. The effect of it all is that the film is, at once, fun and funny but, on the other hand, thoughtful and sweet. It marries the two worlds of silliness and poignancy effortlessly.Taking place in a small industrial town, the film centers around a lovable, albeit slovenly, loser with a heart of gold who refuses to grow up. His one and only goal, obsession and purpose in life is to play the drums. If you find that to be disheartening, here's the kicker: it's air drums!While the world is his cymbal, that instrument is rejecting his stick with a loud screech. Power is misunderstood and ignored by most of the people who surround him in his Texas hometown. After some exploratory roughing-up in a Mexican border town, he realizes his true calling is on the opposite end of the country--in glorious New Jersey.If the premise sounds like a gimmick, it is. There's nothing that Power won't do or any length he won't go to in order to show the world what he's made of.Adrien Grenier (of "Entourage" fame) makes a fun appearance as Power's boyhood nemesis who secretly shares Power passion for air-drumming despite his rich tycoon father having bought him his way into his very own "legitimate" Country-Emo band--where he plays the real drums.In the end, both men are forced to face off in a battle of the air drums on an implausibly televised national competiton. By that time, Power has united with a rag-tag set of misfit "drummers" and become friends with them; he's found a girl who sees him as more than just a pathetic loser and hear's his heart beat in more ways than one. Despite all this hokeyness and unabashed fluff, the movie ends up feeling like a triumph in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. It is unashamed of its sentimentality and never takes itself too seriously.