Mock & Roll

Mockumentaries about faux rock ‘n’ roll bands have become almost commonplace since Eric Idle and Gary Weis’s 1978 The Rutles: All You Need is Cash and Rob Reiner’s 1984 This Is Spinal Tap. Filmmaker Ben Bacharach-White’s Mock & Roll is a solid entry in the mini-genre, following the travails of a clueless quartet called Liberty Mean, who somehow landed upon the idea that being a parody band (covering the songs of a far more famous group but changing the latter’s lyrics) could be their road to success. Liberty Mean’s musicians—Robin (Aditi Molly Bhanja), Rick (Chris Wolfe), Tom (Pakob Jarernpone), and Bun (Andrew Yackel)—decide that their next step is to raise enough money to get to the South by Southwest music festival in Austin. The urge to make a quick score leads them into an art theft circle where guns and craziness are the norm, landing Liberty Mean in jail (more than once). Bacharach-White and his fellow writers and excellent cast carve out a fresh take on the rock mockumentary formula, eschewing subplots involving managers, record companies, roadies, drugs, and so on. The emphasis instead is on four ambitious, well-meaning, racially- and gender-diverse musicians who actually sound very good but are quite naive and gullible. The band’s cultural literacy and quick wit brings snap to the dialogue, while also proving that being smart doesn’t guarantee an instinct for survival. Recommended. (T. Keogh)