Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy


The old saying goes that true rockstars never die but we all know that some of them should have turned in their leather pants and guitar picks long ago. Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll tells the story of one those bands that had their big break but of course things when downhill due to drinking, drugs and typical band squabbling. Years later not much has changed for Johnny Rock (Denis Leary) and his group "The Heathens" except for the fact that they're all a lot older and their 80's hair band vibe just isn't cutting in today's rock world. Enter Johnny's long lost daughter Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) whose come to him looking to start her own career in music. She has all the talent of her father with the fresh look and style that is just what "The Heathens" need to finally make it big or rather she has what "The Assassins" need to finally make it big.

At this point in media history people have experienced the mockery of rock and roll cliches like rockers getting black out drunk or having giant orgies before and after their shows. Then, they all fall apart and slowly melt into obscurity whether it's due to band infighting or what have you and from there you either get a bad TV show, looking at you Rock of Love, or end up in a "Where are they now" style story featured on late night TV. So, if audiences have seen and heard all these jokes and stories before then you need a show that does the old jokes better than you've ever seen them before or feature some of the classic rockstar lifestyle to keep our interests peeked. Sadly, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll's first season does neither of those things and realize on the tired cliches that I just explained a moment ago. 

There really is no ground breaking developments in terms of band dynamics here, Johnny still is the selfish guy he was back in the day in a lot of ways so the problems that broke the band up the first time around are still there. Fellow band mate Flash (John Corbett) is also about as cocky and arrogant as Johnny is and in effort to get back at him for all the years of torment and sleeping with his wife, Flash ends up in a relationship with Gigi. It's fun for a couple of episodes but you realize that there isn't any depth to the situation and that it's just a quick laugh that continues for most of the season. Drummer Bam Bam (Robert Kelly) is nothing more than some questionable homosexual and fat jokes and bass guitarist Rehab (John Ales) seems to be an out of place character who still is a heavy drug user but doesn't fit in with the rest of the group with his aging Hall & Oates look.

In terms of fantastic characters the true star for not just the band but the entire show is Gigi. Elizabeth Gillies plays the perfect modern youth role and gives a great deal of sass and leadership to her role, often eclipsing Denis Leary. This isn't to say the two don't work well together as Leary brings a good deal of heart to yet another show and the two play a very believable father-daughter duo which in many ways kept me watching. The family moments spent on Johnny getting back in touch with those around him led to some heart warming moments. The episode where his mother gets remarried is especially good as it reveals not only the relationship of Johnny and her but also the relationship with his father and how fantastic a musician he use to be. It all runs in the family, it's just a shame that the family bonds don't translate better for the band themselves. 

Perhaps the biggest praise I could give to Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll it's appreciation for rock music. Not many big names make their appearance on the show, Dave Grohl gives a brief testimonial during a reunion episode that Johnny watches in the first episode but you don't need big rock names to make a good rock show, you just need epic tunes. This is once again a shining moment for Gigi who lends amazing vocals as the bands lead singer and literally gave me chills when she sang. Every single song was catchy and it felt like the true rock experience when this aspect to the show shined through. Johnny became the bands song writer since Gigi is the lead singer and seeing Leary sit down with paper and a acoustic guitar to write songs was great. Add on top of this the sound studio scenes where the group is rocking out and the music is killing it, I felt like "The Assassins" were really making a debut album and trying to rise to fame. 

Incredible music aside, the premiere season of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll has the right idea of what it's like to make music but it doesn't get the band dynamic down quite so well. Characters outside of Johnny and Gigi just don't seem to play off of one another and I never found myself being invested in any of them because of it. So, maybe it's best of "The Heathens" fade from the limelight for good this time and not come back for an encore. 

Good:

- Gillies as Gigi

- Exceptional tunes and album making experience

Bad:

- The other band members garner very little attention

- Same cliche rock and roll tropes we've seen before

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10

The Boy Next Door

By: Robert Murphy

You know those tragic stories that you hear about all the time, a husband who lets it slip and starts seeing his young hot receptionist and his wife eventually finds out and they get a divorce. For whatever idiotic reason the husband in The Boy Next Door does this to his amazingly smokey wife, Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez), a local high school teacher and now single parent to her son, Kevin (Ian Nelson). Despite her outward appearance, she spends most of her nights alone in scantily revealing t-shirts and reading classic literature, hoping that things would turn around for her and her husband, Garret (John Corbett), who is trying to get back in on his former life with her and his son. But, a monkey wrench gets thrown into the equation when the new hunky neighbor boy comes into the picture, fixing her garage door *wink wink* and showing an interest in the suburban widow. 

The plot to The Boy Next Door plays out like your average Lifetime movie where the woman has suffered a tough divorce and then a swarthy hunk comes in to make it all better. The more unbelievable aspect to this story is that Jennifer Lopez is the woman who was cheated on in the first place. Even at the age of 45, former pop singer J-Lo is still an incredible beauty on and off the screen and the fact that she was cheated on seems unlikely. What is even more unlikely is the idea that this single parent has the time to look the way she does every single day, you wouldn't believe that Claire is such a damaged woman that she gets into a skin tight dress and has her make-up done to perfection each day when the only people who would enjoy it are her students. The character looks as though she has a professional stylist on hand each and everyday while her wheezing teenaged son goes about his life trying to hit on the hot girl in class and her husband lingers in the background. 

What does make sense is the boy, for the most part anyways. The 19 year old Noah (Ryan Guzman) is a kind and well mannered kid, coming to town to take care of his doddering uncle who is going through bone marrow surgery. His attraction for Claire seems like an innocent crush and in all honesty, it makes complete sense to be attracted to a mom like this. What isn't so believable is this boys interest in classical literature as well, he quotes famous poems by Homer in The Iliad that makes an awkward scene between himself and Claire while her son and Claire's best friend look on with dumbstruck eyes. Their response is perhaps the correct one especially from her son who is not too much younger than Noah, what kid this built is a scholar and quotes Greek tragedies? It's clear that the Greek angle was meant to be relevant to the situation to come after a moment of weakness and Noah's flattery gets the better of Claire and they hook up. 

This scene is exceedingly racy, it does not show any key details on Jennifer Lopez's body but it does reveal a good deal of skin and Noah reaching down into a lacy forbidden zone. It's clear where the R-rating comes from afterwards and despite the sneering it may get me, it is the only scene in the movie that is worth while. From here though things begin to spiral, Claire is ashamed and tries to let Noah down easy and that does not sit too well with him as he thought it was a stepping stone to more. Things mysteriously start going wrong and then Noah begins to get exceedingly vindictive and aggressive with his approach towards getting Claire back. This opens up the actually issues with Noah besides his scholarly life style, his anger and manipulative nature are far too unbelievable, Guzman's performance felt very forced and he never comes off as half as scary as he is meant to. His toying with Claire's son also seems far too out of Guzman's range to pull off with his boyish looks. 

In the end, Claire never does the one thing that she should have done as soon as Noah starts harshly behaving and that is going to the police. Not only Claire but everyone else should have done this too, especially after Noah bashes a kids skull completely into a school locker over and over again but only gets a suspension of all things. The only moment that warrants any reaction is the steamy scene half way through because it is the only part that feels real, the rest is frankly an exercise in futility. Jennifer Lopez never feels like the lonely housewife, weak and wanting her family back together and Noah is never the scary mastermind he is made out to be either. 

Good:

- The saucy scene between Lopez and Guzman

- The sexual innuendo hidden throughout

Bad:

- Lopez's and Guzman's unrealistic portrayal of their characters

- Riddled with cliches and moments you have seen hundreds of times before

- You can predict what will happen in this movie every step of the way

Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10