Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Thomas Jacob Black is a roly-poly actor whom you’ve seen movies ranging from “Shallow Hal” to those silly “Jumanji” fantasies, from “Tropic Thunder” to the acclaimed “School of Rock.” And you’ve heard his voice in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” as well as those “Kung Fu Panda” animations and the more recent “A Minecraft Movie.”

You know him better as Jack Black.

His fans also follow him as the lead vocalist of the wonky duo Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with his friend Kyle Gass.

Critics have described their music as “mock rock.”

In 2006, Black combined his acting and music by creating a film titled “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.” Directed by puppeteer Liam Lynch, it pretends to be the story of the band’s origins.

In this comedy fantasy, we follow their journey to find a magical guitar pick belonging to Satan that will grant its users the ability to become rock legends.

Jack Black plays Jables (also known as J.B.), and Kyle Gass is Kage (or K.B.). Dave Grohl is cast as Satan.

Others in this high-octane romp include Ben Stiller, Meat Loaf, Ronnie James Dio, JR Reed, John C. Reilly, Amy Poehler, Colin Hanks, Jason Segel, Fred Armisen, Amy Adams, and Tim Robbins.

The film was a long-time dream of Jack Black. Back in 1994, he announced at a concert that “a movie like that would be the pinnacle.”

To get the movie made, Black agreed to take a pay cut, dropping from his standard $12 million fee to $1 million, which would be split between him and Gass.

The cut must have been worth it. He later said, “This was the most fun I’ve ever had filming a movie.”

A masterpiece?

Rotten Tomatoes critics didn’t think so, giving “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny” a lukewarm 53% approval rating. The website grumbled: “Tenacious D fans will find this movie hilarious; everybody else will see only a low-brow concept movie and a small assembly of jokes stretched past the 100-minute mark.”

Jack Black expressed his disappointment with the reception of the movie, saying that both he and Gass were devastated that nobody went to see it.

However, they were eventually redeemed, with “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny” achieving a cult status.

“A low-brow concept movie?” Yes. “Lots of drug use?” You bet. “A garish mess.” Uh-huh. “Silly?” Definitely. “Fun?” I’ve always liked it.

The band’s 2012 album “Rize of the Fenix” picked up on the story, offering a fictional plot about the band breaking up following the release of the film, with Gass going insane while Black continued his fame in the film industry. The album begins with the opening lyrics: “When ‘The Pick of Destiny’ was released, it was a bomb.”

Now it is the bomb to fans.

Guess that Devil’s guitar pick worked. Tenacious D did become a rock legend.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com