Rock of Ages

Nostalgia can only carry a concept so far, something the filmmakers don’t quite grasp in Rock of Ages, which essentially is a soundtrack in search of a movie.

The pedigree is promising. It’s an ambitious adaptation of the Tony-nominated musical from 2009, featuring a top-notch cast and director Adam Shankman (Hairspray).

The film is overflowing with upbeat energy and wall-to-wall 1980s ballads and rock anthems, Yet while moviegoers of a certain generation might find themselves bobbing their heads and tapping their feet to the soundtrack of their childhood, the movie lacks narrative coherence and the spontaneity of the source material.

The story, which takes place in 1987, may well have been lifted from the lyrics of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” (which is prominently featured, of course), complete with the small-town girl and the midnight train. It’s not clear, however, whether the city boy was born and raised in south Detroit.

The girl is Sherrie (Julianne Hough), an aspiring singer from Oklahoma who comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom. She falls for Drew (Diego Boneta), who dreams of fame while he waits tables for a struggling nightclub manager (Alec Baldwin), who hopes to get a big break by hosting a show featuring the enigmatic heavy-metal idol Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise), if only he can get past the rocker’s slimy manager (Paul Giamatti).

Meanwhile, the mayor of Los Angeles (Bryan Cranston) is running for re-election, and his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is campaigning with a pledge to rid the city of clubs along the Sunset Strip and of stars like Jaxx who are negatively influencing children.

Rock of Ages contains plenty of spectacle, and the cast (including various cameos) appears to be having a good time. However, the best musicals use their production numbers to supplement the story instead of the other way around, and that’s one area where the film falls short.

The renditions of the songs are generally pleasant, ranging from an energetic version of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” to a silly repurposing of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” belted out by Cruise during a sex scene on a pool table.

More problematic is the tendency to condense multiple hits into would-be medleys that serve little narrative purpose. An example is an early mash-up of Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero” and Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ’n Roll” that detracts from the appeal of both.

The whole thing probably should have stayed on the stage, where its lack of subtlety and its narrative predictability wouldn’t have been so blatant. By contrast, the film seems to take itself too seriously rather than embracing its cheesy roots.

Rated PG-13, 123 minutes.