Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Directed by	Liam Lynch
Produced by	Jack Black Kyle Gass Stuart Cornfeld
Written by	Jack Black Kyle Gass Liam Lynch
Starring	Jack Black Kyle Gass
Music by	Soundtrack Tenacious D Score John King Andrew Gross
Cinematography	Robert Brinkmann
Editing by	David Rennie
Studio	Red Hour Film MACRON Filmproduktion
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	November 22, 2006
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million[1]
Gross revenue	$13.91 million[1]
Preceded by	Tenacious D: Time Fixers
Followed by	D Tour: A Tenacious Documentary

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (also known as Kings of Rock: Tenacious D in Germany)^[2] is a comedy/rock musical set in the 1990s, starring Tenacious D, an American satirical rock duo that features Jack Black and Kyle Gass. It is directed by musician and puppeteer Liam Lynch. All three of them are also listed as the writers of the film. The film was released on November 22, 2006. Publicity for the film involved a tagline "The Greatest Motion Picture of All Time".^[3]

Plot

As a kid, Jack Black (JB or "Jables") leaves his strictly religious family in Kickapoo, Missouri for Hollywood on a quest to form the world's most awesome rock band. After going through every other Hollywood in the United States, a fullgrown Jables meets acoustic guitarist Kyle Gass (KG or "Kage") who is performing on the street, and begins worshipping him as a rock god because of his skills and attitude. While KG at first spurns JB, tossing his pick at him, he pretends to save him from a Clockwork Orange-esque gang that beat him up that night and takes him back to his "pad", where he pretends to be famous with a self-named band "The Kyle Gass Project", and exploits him to do work such as cleaning his apartment and buying him weed with the promise of an audition for his fictitious band. JB eventually learns that KG is actually unemployed and bald, living off rent checks from his mother (which she announces are going to stop). However the two become equal when Kage reveals he used the last of his rent money to pay JB a brand-new guitar decorated with religious symbols. Vowing to help his new friend, JB and KG create their own band: Tenacious D, named for birthmarks found on their butt cheeks (Jack Black has a birthmark which says: "Tenac", and Kyle Gass has a mark which reads: "ious D").

"Master Exploder"

Soon JB and KG learn the deepest secret of rock: all the rock legends used the same guitar pick: The Pick of Destiny. It was created by a dark wizard from a piece of Satan's tooth, as a gift to a blacksmith who saved the wizard's life from the great demon. The pick gives its holder "supranatural" abilities with stringed instruments ('supranatural' being "a whole level above supernatural"). Infatuated by the prospect of becoming the next great rock star, JB immediately sets Tenacious D on a quest to steal the Pick of Destiny from a rock history museum. Along the way, the band briefly splits up when, invited by some coeds to perform at a party, KG decides that sex comes first in "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll", while JB wants to stick to the mission at hand. The duo is reunited after KG's solo performance at the party ends up in failure and JB has a mushroom-induced hallucinogen experience in which he encounters Sasquatch and cavorts with him through the forest (actually risking his life several times).

The two manage to steal the Pick of Destiny due to the incompetent security guards at the rock museum (who are all high on marijuana). Armed with this supranatural pick, they plan to use the winnings from a local bar's talent contest to pay their rent, but before they can go on stage, greed overcomes them, and they fight over the pick, accidentally snapping it in half. After a pep-talk from the open mic night host, they decide they are good enough to go onto the contest without the pick, not knowing that the host is Satan in human form, looking for his missing tooth. Coming back outside (deciding they can both use half of the pick), they are confronted by Satan (Dave Grohl), who is "complete" when he places the Pick of Destiny back on his broken tooth, regaining the ability to use his supranatural powers on Earth and intending to take everyone to Hell starting with Tenacious D.

To save their lives, Tenacious D challenge Satan to a "rock-off", which he is forced to accept according to the "Demon Code," terms being that he returns to Hell and pays their rent if Tenacious D wins and take KG as his sex slave if they lose. While JB and KG perform admirably, ultimately they lose and Satan attempts to shoot KG with a bolt of lightning. JB jumps in the way, and the bolt bounces off his guitar, blowing off a piece of Satan's horn. JB is able to exploit Satan's "incompleteness" in order to banish him back to Hell, with the devil screaming his vow of vengence on Tenacious D while being sucked back into Hell. Though the two forgot how what may be "The Greatest Song in the World" went, the two turn Satan's horn into the "Bong of Destiny" and smoke from it as they write new songs. A post credits scene shows the duo sitting, trying to think of a song. Kage thinks he has one, but instead farts.

Cast

• Jack Black as JB/Jables
• Kyle Gass as KG/Kage
• Jason Reed as Lee
• Ronnie James Dio as himself
• Dave Grohl as Satan
• Meat Loaf as JB's Father
• Ben Stiller as Guitar Center Guy
• Paul F. Tompkins as Open Mic Host
• Tim Robbins as The Stranger
• John C. Reilly as Sasquatch
• Troy Gentile as Lil' JB

Various actors have cameos, including Amy Poehler, Colin Hanks, Amy Adams, Fred Armisen, and Neil Hamburger.

Box office

The film performed poorly at the box office, only grossing a total of $8.2 million in the United States. It debuted with a mere $3 million during its opening weekend at number eleven. With a budget of $20,000,000 the film is considered a financial failure because it was not able to gross half the cost of production. In the fifth week after its release, the movie only earned $50,000 and virtually vanished from theaters. DVD sales outnumbered the box office receipts, totaling over $9 million. Prior to filming, Black and Gass each received $500,000 and were to share 10% of the total revenue of the film. This means that each of them earned about $865,000 from the project.^[4] This movie is rated R for pervasive language, sexual content, and drug usage.

Critical Reception

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny polarized critics. The film holds a 53% at Rotten Tomatoes, with most commentators unimpressed by the film's low-brow humor.^[5] Michael Phillips criticized the frequency of the drug-use by saying: "This may be the problem. Pot rarely helped anybody's comic timing."^[6] Stephen Holden of The New York Times suggested that the film could be viewed as a "jolly rock 'n' roll comedy", but he also described the progression of the film as being a "garish mess."^[7] Many critics felt that the film tried to stretch too little comic material into too long of a movie--and that the 93 minute running time feels long. However, most commentators agreed that any fans of Tenacious D's music--or Jack Black's rather frenetic acting style--would no doubt appreciate and enjoy the movie.

Music

The soundtrack, the band's second album, includes vocals by Ronnie James Dio and Meat Loaf. Dave Grohl plays drums on the album, as he did on their first album, Tenacious D (2001). Grohl also contributes his vocals on "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)".

The score by Andrew Gross, John King and Trainwreck, More Rocktastic Music from the Film, was released in limited quantities to Wal-Mart stores. They have made an original soundtrack from the movie also.

See also

• List of American films of 2006
• List of films that frequently use the word "fuck"

References

This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

External links

• Official film website
• Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny at the Internet Movie Database
• Billboard - Tenacious D's 'Destiny' In Sight
• Interview: Jack Black and Kyle Glass Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
• Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny at Rotten Tomatoes