If you are a child of the 80s and a fan of musicals, you will most likely love Rock of Ages. (Take note Mainstream Chick.) If, like me, you are a child of the 80s and not a big fan of musicals, you will still really like this movie. It’s over-the-top campy fun with a soundtrack that will have you singing along. And honestly your singing will be almost as good as most of the actors’ singing. That’s my major quibble with the movie; I wish the voices had been stronger.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not horrible. Tom Cruise’s voice is actually a lot better than I expected it to be and Catherine Zeta-Jones can sing. And really, would you really expect Paul Giamatti, Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand to truly be able to belt out a tune? But every time Julianne Hough broke into song I just wanted her to be quiet — especially in the scenes where she sang with Mary J. Blige (the one truly powerful voice in the movie). Hough just doesn’t have the kind of voice to handle the power ballads and rock songs of the 80s. But she is sweet and likeable as Sherrie Christian, the small town girl who moves to L.A. to chase her big city dreams, and Diego Boneta is adorable as her rock-star wannabe boyfriend Drew.

But it’s the “veterans” in the cast who really made the movie for me. Tom Cruise is absolutely fantastic as legendary rock star Stacee Jaxx — “the Stacee Jaxx” as they say in the movie. He’s got the aloof, entitled, over-sexed, rock star swagger down. Giamatti practically oozes as Jaxx’s oily manager and you can tell Baldwin had a lot of fun playing the “seen-it-all” club owner who’s not quite certain about his attraction to his club manager Brand.

Bottom line: Rock of Ages is rockin’ nostaglic fun for those “of a certain age,” and just plain fun even if you might not be able to sing all of the words to Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again.” C’mon sing it with me!

I don’t know where I’m goin’…

But I sure know where I’ve been…

Hanging on the promises in the songs of yesterday…

And I’ve made up my mind….

I ain’t wastin’ no more time…

Here I go again… here I go again

If you heard the tune in your head as you read those words, go see Rock of Ages. You’ll have a good time.

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