Stop me if you've heard this one before: failed rocker is in a dead-end job but has never given up the dream; hooks up with a group of talented kids; gives them some rock 'n roll advice; rides their coattails to belated superstardom.

It's 'School Of Rock' all over again. Replace Jack Black's AC/DC-worshiping guitar hero with Rainn Wilson's demented drummer, add a few notes of 'Almost Famous' and you've got 'The Rocker'.

With a performance so over the top that even Kiss would balk at hiring him, Wilson is Robert "Fish" Fishman, booted from Bon Jovi wannabes Vesuvius just before their big break. Twenty years later, after being booted from yet another 9 to 5 and in the running for the title of world's biggest loser, he doesn't need much convincing to sit in with his nephew's group, inadvertently helping them to success with a little help from YouTube and a lot of nudity.

Inadvertent too are his life lessons to the sensitive singer/songwriter, the fat kid keyboard player and the trying-so-hard-to-be-cool-chick-on-bass as Fish tries to catch up on two decades of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.

Along the way egos are bruised, walkouts threatened, hotel rooms trashed, and love found (and lost and found), while a flailing Wilson continually tries to outdo the wild man reputations of John Bonham and Keith Moon. Puking into his pocket, getting his kit off behind the kit, the 'Office' star stops at nothing for a laugh — but within 30 minutes you wish he would. Stop that is. Or at least shut up for a second.

The kids (including actual musician Teddy Geiger) and Christina Applegate (as the love token) are left with little to do, while Will Arnett's hilariously coked-up take on every washed-up '80s hair metal star is even more overlooked.

If rock 'n roll is king, Wilson is the dunce.

Extras:

Extended and deleted scenes focus on more look-at-me antics from Wilson, some impressive ad-libbing during an inspired video-shoot scene, and a wasted cameo from fired Beatles drummer Pete Best.