A glossy, near-campy, and totally moussed-up spectacle, "Rock of Ages" is relentlessly entertaining and much smarter than some viewers are giving it credit. This is a film that knows what it wants to be. It has no pretensions about being a serious, deep, or powerful story of the hard rocking excesses on the late 80s Sunset Strip. What it wants to be and is is a musical comedy that satirizes the pretensions and tropes of late 80s music, the political/parental machinations against said music, and the videos that brought that music into so many homes. It lovingly sends up that scene, doing so against the story of a small town girl living in a lonely world, etc., etc.
"Rock of Ages" is pure artifice, but, under that artifice, beats a heart in four/four time, rocking with power chords.