Prey for Rock & Roll
Jacki (Gina Gershon, who also served as a producer) has always wanted to be a rock star. But after years of struggling to make it, she's turning 40, and she's thinking of giving it up. "Do you ever think about being 50 or 60 years old, hauling our gear around, passing out flyers, fighting with bookers, and still sweating around?" she asks her bandmates. Faith (Lori Petty), the talented lead guitarist, gives guitar lessons to hyperactive teens on the side. Faith is seriously involved with the much younger Sally (Shelly Cole of TV's Gilmore Girls), the band's good-natured drummer. Tracy (Drea de Matteo of HBO's The Sopranos), the bass player, is a trust-fund baby with a substance abuse problem and a manipulative lowlife boyfriend, Nick (Ivan Martin). Jacki's thoughts of quitting are put on hold when the band gets a shot at a recording contract for an independent label and a gig opening for X. Then Sally's big brother, Animal (Marc Blucas, formerly of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer), arrives in town, fresh out of prison, and stirs up Jacki's romantic life. But when two tragic events shake the band, Jacki is again forced to consider finding something else to do with her life. Prey for Rock & Roll was written by Cheri Lovedog, based on her own experiences in the rock world. It was originally performed as a stage play at CBGB in New York. The stage production was directed by Robin Whitehouse, who gets a writing credit for the screenplay. The film marks the directorial debut of accomplished film music producer Alex Steyermark. It was shown at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. more..
Director: Alex Steyermark
Starring: Gina Gershon, Drea de Matteo,Lori Petty, Shelly Cole, Marc Blucas
An ingratiatingly scrappy little movie. It's been cobbled together out of a great many conventional crises (drugs, abusive boyfriends, heartless girlfriends, a looming record deal), yet there's a tough and appealing vitality to the way that it embraces the petty ego-tripping and party-down squalor of the rock lifestyle and stands apart from it at the same time.
It's a raw and raucous rock story that, for once, gets the big picture and the small details right.
While the story line often comes uncomfortably close to melodrama, Prey for Rock and Roll"... is an entertaining and sometimes even moving portrait of a veteran band that never quite hits the big time.
Some of what happens feels real, a lot doesn't, but even when the screenplay groans with clichés, the four lead actresses play their parts with truckloads of heart.
If the movie is terrific on ambience and street language (the women call one another Dude), much of its melodramatic story involving a rape and payback feels forced.
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