I love Tenacious D. I saw them in Chicago at the House of Blues at what is now considered a legendary concert from the dynamic duo of acoustic comedic metal (before they were huge) and I snuck my way down front to see them at Big Day Out in Atlanta a few years back. I own their albums, I downloaded a bootleg concert from New Zealand, where Jack Black was filming King Kong, and I have a limited edition t-shirt. I am an example of who this movie was made for and I have to say, it wasn’t a home run.

The story of “The Pick of Destiny” is the Tenacious D origin story. It focuses on JB leaving his home to find Hollywood and form the world’s most awesome band. There he finds KG, a guitar strumming lothario in California, who states he has no time or attention to give the eager young man. Eventually the two pair up, perform at an open mic night and hear the legendary tale of “The Pick of Destiny.” It is a pick, formed from Satan’s tooth, and all of the great guitarists in history have at one time or another used the pick and gained great fame. The D learns of the pick’s current destination and plan to steal it and become even greater than they believe they already are.

What follows are a few silly escapades on their way to the museum where the pick resides. The best parts of these scenes are the cameos. Ben Stiller is terrific as an aging metal guitar salesman, Tim Robbins steals his scenes as a gimpy Russian with knowledge of the pick and John C. Reilly is unrecognizable as Sasquatch in a trippy scene reminiscent of a Sid and Marty Krofft special. The music, which of course is central to Tenacious D, hovers between good and great, if you like acoustic hard rock/heavy metal, Jack Black’s theatrical voice and some heavy cursing. Good news for D fans, there are actually some new songs in the film, including Master Exploder, which may be one the group’s better songs. They also experiment with some different styles of music and they work too.

What doesn’t work is the lack of big, raucous guffaws that I had come to expect from the Tenacious D HBO specials. Put on a grander scale and in some typical movie trappings, the film doesn’t soar to dizzying comedic heights. I laughed at many scenes and songs and enjoyed the film, but many readers out there probably won’t. If you have never heard of Tenacious D, rent the DVDs instead and school yourself on them before attempting to view this movie. Chances are, you’ll like it better than you would have going in with no prior knowledge. Of course, the catch-22 is that you’ll then be a little disappointed that the major motion picture isn’t as laugh out loud funny as you had hoped.

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