Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

For the film's soundtrack, see The Pick of Destiny.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Theatrical release poster
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
Narrated by Jack Black
Music by Soundtrack
Tenacious D
Score
John King
Andrew Gross
Cinematography Robert Brinkmann
Edited by David Rennie
Production
company
Red Hour Films
MACRON Filmproduktion GmbH
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
  • November 22, 2006
Running time
 94 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20 million[1]
Box office $13.9 million[1]

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny is a 2006 American musical comedy film about comedy rock duo Tenacious D. Written, produced by and starring Tenacious D members Jack Black and Kyle Gass, it is directed and co-written by musician and puppeteer Liam Lynch. Despite being about an actual band, the film is a fictitious story set in the 1990s about the band's origins, and their journey to find a pick belonging to Satan that allows its users to become rock legends.

The film was released on November 22, 2006 and was a box office bomb, but has since become a cult classic. The soundtrack, The Pick of Destiny, was also released in 2006 as the band's second studio album.

Plot

In the town of Kickapoo, Missouri, a young Jack Black (also known as "JB" or "Jables") is punished by his strictly religious father (Meat Loaf) for playing an inappropriate rock song. While shut in his room, JB asks for guidance from his poster of Ronnie James Dio, who springs to life and tells him to go to Hollywood on a quest to form the world's most awesome rock band. After years of traveling to every other city named Hollywood in the United States, a fullgrown Jables meets acoustic guitarist Kyle Gass (also known as "KG" or "Kage") who is performing on the street in L.A., and begins to look up to him because of his skills and attitude. While KG at first spurns JB, tossing his pick at him, he later pretends to save JB from a Clockwork Orange-esque gang that beat him up that night and takes him back to his apartment, where he pretends to be famous with a self-named band "The Kyle Gass Project." Kage exploits Jables by making him clean the apartment and buy KG marijuana with the promise of an audition for the fictitious Kyle Gass Project, but KG is finally exposed when his mother leaves a message on his answering machine, with JB realizing that KG is actually unemployed, wearing a wig, and living off rent checks from his mother, which she says is going to stop. However, the two become equal when Kage reveals he used the last of his rent money to buy JB a brand-new guitar embossed with his initials. Vowing to help his new friend, JB and KG create their own band: Tenacious D, named for birthmarks found on their buttocks (Jack has a birthmark which says: "Tenac", and Kyle has a mark which reads: "ious D").

Soon JB and KG learn the deepest secret of rock: all the rock legends used the same guitar pick. While looking for the model at a guitar shop, they learn from the manager (Ben Stiller) that it is called "The Pick of Destiny" and was created by a dark wizard who had once summoned Satan from the depths of Hell to battle him. A blacksmith heard the commotion and knocked out one of the demon's teeth. The wizard took advantage of Satan's "incompleteness" and banished him back to his fiery realm. As a gift to the blacksmith for saving his life, the wizard formed a guitar pick from Satan's tooth, so that the blacksmith could win the affection of the woman he loved. The pick gives its holder "supra-natural" abilities with stringed instruments ("supranatural" being "a whole level above super"). 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 n' roll history museum, which is where it now stays. Along the way, the band briefly splits up when, invited by some co-eds 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 results in failure and JB has a mushroom-induced hallucinogenic experience in which he encounters Sasquatch and cavorts with him through the forest (actually risking his life several times) after eating some hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Later, the two manage to steal the Pick of Destiny due to inattentive security guards and disabling the security system guarding the pick at the rock museum. Armed with this "supra-natural" 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 actually Satan in human form, who repairs and reattaches his missing tooth. Coming back outside (deciding they can both use half of the pick), they are confronted by Satan (Dave Grohl), who is now "complete".

To save their lives, Tenacious D challenges 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 takes 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 of the mother of pearl inlays in 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 vengeance on Tenacious D. Though the two forgot how to play what may be "The Greatest Song in the World", the two turn Satan's horn into the "Bong of Destiny". From there they smoke it, whilst Jack begins to sing the film's title song as the closing credits roll.

In a post-credits scene, Tenacious D attempts to write yet another masterpiece, but they only manage to record KG's flatulence.

Cast

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.[2]

Release

Home Video

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny was released by New Line Home Video on February 27, 2007 on DVD. Select stores sold the DVD with a replica Pick of Destiny prop for a limited time in a pack of five. The pick can now be bought separately.

In certain stores, people who bought the movie would receive a Tenacious D goodie bag with a 6-piece sticker set, masks of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, a set of black and white plectrum dog tags, a tattoo and red and green foam hands (one of each color).

A version sold by retail chain Best Buy came with an extra disc with exclusive footage, such as extra deleted scenes which were not included on the main release, as well as promotional episodes and shorts. It also contains footage of an orchestra recording the score, More Rocktastic Music From The Film. There is also a feature titled "home movies" which documents the shooting of the film.

Another chain, Circuit City, released the Tenacious D in: The Pick Of Destiny: Free Sneak Preview bonus disc. This featured ten minutes of behind the scenes footage, as well as a music video promoting the movie. This release was free with any software purchase, or available for purchase by itself. It was released a few months before the film came out.

Critical reception

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny received mixed reviews from critics with a 54% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with several commentators impressed by the film's low-brow humor; the site's consensus states [that any] "Tenacious D fan will find this movie hilarious; everybody else will see only a low-brow concept movie and a small assembly of jokes stretched past the 100 minute mark."[3] Michael Phillips criticized the frequency of the drug-use by saying: "This may be the problem. Pot rarely helped anybody's comic timing."[4] 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."

Music

Main article: The Pick of Destiny

The soundtrack, the band's second studio 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)", as Satan. There was also a clean version released.

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. The score was orchestrated by Richard Bronskill and Tony Blondal, and recorded with a large orchestra and choir at the Sony Scoring Stage, in Culver City, Ca.

Legacy

In their 2012 album Rize of the Fenix, Tenacious D reference the film's relative unpopularity with the opening lyrics "When The Pick Of Destiny was released, it was a bomb". The 2012 EP Jazz also references the film, when Jack Black sings, "Who put Beelzeboss into my jazz?"[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
  2. ↑ Rotten Tomatoes: Box Office Summary
  3. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tenacious_d_in_the_pick_of_destiny/
  4. ↑ Phillips, Michael (2006-11-24). "So-so story of a superband". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
  5. ↑ Tenacious D (2012). Simply Jazz. Event occurs at 06:24.

External links

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