Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)

(On TV, November 2019) I wasn’t expecting much of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny largely because I have long grown cold on Jack Black’s brand of in-your-face crude comedy. Yes, School of Rock was cute and his supporting performances in larger casts are often a highlight, but most of those don’t present Black’s favoured persona to its fullest. You can’t say the same about The Pick of Destiny, considering that it’s fronted by his own rock duo Tenacious D, and seems to present Black turned up to 11. While I like rock, I’m far from being the kind of full-time metalhead that the film is aimed for. Taking the frequent pre-fame band narrative and infusing it with fantastical elements such as a demonic guitar pick, the film grabs every excuse to hail the power of rock, indulge in drug culture, cram as many cameos as possible (Satan as played by Dave Grohl? Well, why not?) and swear copiously. It’s all immensely immature … and it works. I mean: it’s reasonably funny, plotted with some competence beyond episodic sequences, and the climax feels like a culmination. It’s clearly meant to be a cult movie (making the box-office disappointment of the film a forgone conclusion) and with that must come a large dose of indulgence as Black and partner Kyle Gass clearly have the times of their lives headlining their own film. It may be a case of exceeding expectations rather than a successful film, but I found The Pick of Destiny amusing enough to warrant a good review, and that’s not something I considered likely when I started watching the film.