It may not be Adam Shankman's "Hairspray", but the guy still proves how fantastic & phenomenal he is when doing musical numbers (which is when Shankman is at his uttermost best).

Before anything, yes, Rock of Ages is cheesy & has it's flaws, but the movie is still fun to watch, since that's what watching a musical & movie is all about (but since 97% of RT's community consists of prejudiced morons who have their heads rammed up the ass & take movies way too seriously, I sure as hell don't expect that out of them). If you want to avoid the story & everything, just watch the musical numbers which are much, much better than the movie itself.

Story/Plot: As I said, & as most people have pointed out, it's very cheesy, makes little sense, & as the consensus states very inconsequential, so that's one major fault of the movie, but can be overlooked if you're a very patient person as I am. For those who don't like musicals, this movie will just irritate you more. People who take a movie far too seriously (like 9&% of RT's community) will clearly not like it, & I'm not even saying that you have to like it, but to say this movie was bad & was put together with no effort would be like saying The Last Airbender was secretly a good movie if you overlook the infestation of problems it has.

So the plot is pretty simple, Sherri leaves her old town to head to Hollywood where the big dreams come true so she can become a great singer. It then involves the love story with Drew who also wants to become a big hit in te music industry. But the plot takes a big turn as well as a bit more confusion when it brings up the other subplots involved such as the anti-Rock/Metal preachers, gay love, Stacee Jaxx, & so on. The storytelling just gets confusing with all the weird twists thrown in & numerous characters. But like I said, if you're patient, it will make a bit of sense to you after you clear out all the plots & subplots in here.

Cast/Acting: The movie is listed with big-name Hollywood actors, & they all do a phenomenal job, as weird as their performances may be. But the one who deserves the biggest praise for their wonderful acting is om Cruise. Say what you what about him, but the guy does his roles just right, & in here is one of his best I have ever seen. I'd go on about every other actor here but that would take too much time from me.

Characters: Here is another fault to the movie; the movie just has way too many characters stuffed into it & focuses on them much too much, & doesn't make it really clear who the main focus really is. You have Sherrie & Drew (Julianne Hough Hough & Diego Boneta respectively), the actual main characters of the movie & love couple. Then you have Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise), a character that was or still actually is a Rock god & has left his band to be solo but continues to perform the same songs over & over again, & is looking for that 'perfect song, perfect sound that will make me want to live forever', hence his unnoticeable misery. Reporter Constance (Malin Akerman) is an interviewer & wants Stacee Jaxx to realize how controlled he is by Paul Gill (Paul Giamatti), & after a certain & hilariously awkward moment with Stacee she realizes how confused she is with her own life & makes the rock god realize his own inner feelings to what he really wants.

Patricia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta Jones) is a religious protestant against Rock music & has a very morbid resent towards Stacee Jaxx who doesn't know her own husband, Mike Whitmore (played by the still-hot Bryan Cranston), is cheating on her. I'd go one but like I said, too many characters fill the movie. But I will mention the awkward & comical characters of Lonny & Dennis (played by Russel Brand & Alec Baldwin respectively). With with this many characters a movie will be confusing & doesn't give you an actual focal point. If anything, I would have used very little time on the characters outside of Sherrie & drew, & Stacee Jaxx (questionably Constance too), & used a lot of info with the little time with them.

Musical numbers/Songs: This here is when director Adam Shankman gives you his best, & the greatest parts of the whole movie. With the exception of Russel Brand & Mary J. Blige, I had no idea any of the actors in this movie could sing, especially Tom Cruise. Apparently SHOULD have known Catherine Zeta Jones could sing since she was in Chicago, but I never watched that movie. The songs in here are all classic 80s rock music, & while I do ADORE all the ones used in here, some of them are actually better in this version than the original ones (because those some I like better actually work better they way they were done in this musical).

Now, before I continue on with this section, please do not give me some "They are edited tweaked, & cannot sing" bullshit, because that will only tell me you have a mental disorder, no further argument from there. I don't give a rat's ass who you are, how much you hate certain actors in this movie, & how much you hated this movie, they can sing, & nothing you tell me will change that solid fact. One of my friends, who gave less of a turd about this movie, already made it clear that the singers in here are great, & that's coming from him since he is a professional musician. If you think none of the actors in here can sing, then I must assume you must also think none of the singers in The Beatles or Kiss could sing (that's the type of logic you'd be using). There is no dubbing, lip-syncing, editing, auto-tune in this movie; Adam Shankman goes for all natural talent, & he proves that in this movie as well as Hairspray.

Anyways, the musical numbers are just phenomenal & as stated before when Adam Shankman is at his best. All of the musical numbers in here are everything most musicals should be; energetic, naturally performed, fantastically choreographed, & beautifully executed. My most personal favorite scenes are Shadows of the Night/Harden My Heart, Any way You Want it, I Want to know what Love is, & Pour Some Sugar on me.

The songs used in the films were:

- Sister Christian/Just Like Paradise/Nothin' but a Good Time
- Juke Box Hero/I Love Rock 'n' Roll
- Hit Me with Your Best Shot
- Waiting for a Girl Like You
- More Than Words/Heaven
- Wanted Dead or Alive
- I Want to Know What Love Is
- I Wanna Rock
- Pour Some Sugar on Me
- Harden My Heart
- Shadows of the Night/Harden My Heart
- Here I Go Again
- Can't Fight This Feeling
- Any Way You Want It
- Undercover Love
- Every Rose Has Its Thorn
- Rock You Like a Hurricane (only present in the extended cut)
- We Built This City/We're Not Gonna Take It
- Million Dollar Love
- Don't Stop Believin'
- Paradise City

Of the ones I do like better than the original songs:

Juke Box Hero/I Love Rock 'n' Roll - I've never liked the original version of the song, & Britney Spears' version of it from that dreadful "Crossroads" movie only made it worse for me. This version mixes it with another song & it actually sounds a bit darker than the original ones & still loaded with energy from it's stars.

Hit Me with Your Best Shot - While the original is great, the way Pat Benettar sang it sounded very snobby. Catherine Zeta Jones sounded a lot stronger & like she meant it.

I Want to Know What Love Is - Aside from being the most hilarious & awkward musical scene in the entire movie (no really, if you watch this scene with your parents or other relatives, you won't be able to look them straight in the face for a good while) slightly behind Can't Fight this Feeling Anymore, the song itself actually works & sounds a lot better as a duet, & plus the lyrics have been mixed in a bit because the original's lyrics started to sound a bit awkward around the very end.

Shadows of the Night/Harden My Heart - Not only is this my favorite song in the whole soundtrack but also the best scene in the whole movie next to "Any Way you Want it". The way Mary J Blige sings this song using her soulful voice & the way the song was changed to a more R&B style (which was originally Rock & Blues) kicks ass. Another thing, the way the strippers/exotic dancers dance on those poles is so unreal, & only makes one want to dance on the poles as well. And plus, I find the way they stomp those heels to be hot!

And don't get me wrong, I adore the original "Shadows of the Night" by Pat Benettar but the way they changed this song from a rock to an R&B one was a hell of a lot better for me.

As far as the other songs go, they're all performed spectacularly. Every Rose has it's thorn is possibly the weakest rock song in the soundtrack. But the worst songs in the soundtrack are definitely the Undercover love or any of the songs sung by the Crazy Guyeezz (do they even exist?). why? Obviously, because you don't put a boy-band pop song in a soundtrack that consists of 80s rock songs. It just doesn't work, doesn't look right, & it sure as hell looks bad. Not that those are bad songs, they're not great either, but when you just finished hearing "Wanted Dead or Alive" or "Any Way You Want It" & you hear the first few seconds of "Undercover Love" it sounds utterly ridiculous & it just seems illogical to put a song like that in Rock of Ages, even for the intention.

For those of you wondering what the actual intention of the pop songs was, it was a homage as to when in that decade most music companies thought out of sheer stupidity that Rock was dead since they saw a bunch of squealing moron girls going bat-shit insane over dudes in a band looking like they were thrown out of a fashion disaster camp & that Pop was the new thing. I love Pop, but no way in hell would I take it over classic rock.

I mainly like how some of the songs actually work as a group, & I found "Wanted Dead or Alive" sounded a lot better with a chorus than the actual guy himself yelling "WANTED!".

Directing: Adam Shankman has a great visual & directing style regardless of what you think of his films. That being said, I honestly couldn't think of any other director better suited to direct Rock of Ages other than him, because like with Hairspray, the guy is a full blown phenomenon with musicals, even if it's just the musical numbers themselves. You can give him any songs & the guy can give you his directing style suited exactly for the song. Hell, you'll most likely get an intentionally shitty video if the song sucked, but that there will tell you what he's capable of.

But Shankman is one of the best musical directors out there, regardless if you like his movies or not (that he's directed, that is). Rock of Ages is just proof that the guy gives his effort & puts his heart into his films, even the original band members of the songs used in the stage/movie supported this movie & loved that he was giving all his honest homages to the classic rock era. Musicals are not easy movies to make, no. Just the behind the scenes of this movie or even the behind the scenes work of other musicals like Sweeney Todd or Little Shop of Horrors gives you what a nightmare it is to direct these. If anything, I would want to see what he would do if Adam directed or at least did the choreography for Wicked.

Dialogue: Most of the story words is given through the songs, but the dialogue outside of the music was ok. Nothing bad, at all, it was just average.

Final summation, the movie rocked, & is definitely one of my all time favorite musicals. Top 5? No, unfortunately. But it is a worthy mention, & I will always love the movie. It's largely silly, & it has flaws, all films have flaws, even ones everyone worships has flaws no matter how much they deny it. It's a guilty pleasure I suppose. Who doesn't have one or plenty? Those who say they don't are idiots without a doubt.

"Nothin' but a good time" was this movie's intention, & that's certainly what I had after watching it.

Fun Trivia:

- Gloria Estefan was originally considered, heavily, for the role of Patricia Whitmore.

- Seth Rogen was offered the role of Lonny before Russel Brand, but turned it down due to his citing of lack of singing abilities.

- The band Poison & Def Leppard performed a live concert with a Bourbon Room backdrop for their stage. Def Leppard also dedicated their Pour Some Sugar on Me song on stage to their "good old friend Stacee Jaxx"