Prey for Rock & Roll

It took me genuine years to track down this addition to the Gina Gershon sapphic movie canon. I finally found it on the deep reaches of the internet where nobody but fools and perverts dares tread. And after such a search, did Prey for Rock & Roll prove itself worth such effort? I dunno, it was fine.

Jacki (Gina Gershon) has an all-female punk band called Clam Dandy. The other members are trust fund baby, Tracy (Drea de Matteo) and on-again off-again quirky couple, Sally (Shelly Cole) and Faith (Lori Petty). Despite Clam Dandy busting their ass for a decade, they’ve had little success getting signed. Apparently, Clam Dandy doesn’t have the right “look.” As Jacki approaches her 40th birthday, she begins to panic about her lack of professional success and direction her life is taking. Ending things with her girlfriend, Jessica (Shakara Ledard), Jacki also finds herself the object of the affection of Sally’s younger brother, Animal (Marc Blucas). The personal tragedies and traumas of the band members threaten to break up the band before they can finally find success.

Ultimately, Prey for Rock & Roll is a fine music movie. Neither great nor terrible. It hits many of the plot points you’d expect. Jacki gets her A-plot and the various band members offer chances are various subplots, all of which are decent but none of which are surprising. The all-female band aspect gives Prey for Rock & Roll a bit of an edge, but still doesn’t read as particularly groundbreaking or fresh. At least in 2024. Like so many movies, Prey for Rock & Roll does sanitize the punk scene and culture heavily. While at times the movie skews a bit edgier, this is a very safe, entry-level sort of punk scene on display. The kind of punk ready to be beamed into your living room for a safe, stay-at-home watching experience.

The other way this film is too cookie-cutter is the emphasis on an extremely narrow view of beauty. Much of Jacki’s worry is about being “old” as she is 40. This is an understandable fear for women in general and especially in the entertainment industry. But other than Jacki’s age, the film does too much to suggest that Clam Dandy has too alternative a look to be successful. In reality, these are four conventionally attractive actresses wearing slightly heavy eyeliner. And Lori Petty has a pixie cut. Realistically, Clam Dandy would likely have an easy time signing a record contract. These women are hitting that exactly correct point of conventionally attractive with a slight stylistic edge that tends to do well for musicians. Prey for Rock & Roll wants us to see them as consummate outsiders. But the film plays so inside the box that this never comes across.

Queerness is surprisingly matter-of-fact in this 2003 film. I guess that is because the punk element of it and the all-girl band thing made queerness something assumed. Prey for Rock & Roll is a film with a bisexual lead but with a focus on a heterosexual relationship. Jacki begins the film with a girlfriend but that girlfriend is gone pretty early on. Then, she has her flirtation with Animal. Overall, it’s fairly well-handled in broad strokes but does show the film’s age in certain moments of dialogue, especially surrounding Jacki’s bisexuality as opposed to lesbianism. The film ends sourly on the note of queer representation though. Because you’ll never guess what happens when one of the most overtly lesbian characters in the film runs out into the street without looking both ways. God save me from bury your gays by way of traffic collisions.

One of the better elements of the film is the music. I don’t think the songs really count as particularly punk rock. At best, they’re pop-punk. But I still like them as someone not particularly hardcore myself. These do sound like appropriate songs for a talented but unrecognized band to perform. Gina Gershon performs excellently as the band’s front woman. I’ve seen a lot of movies where the original music is not realistically strong enough to be in any movie about musical success. Prey for Rock & Roll is not one of these movies.

I don’t have any particularly strong opinions about Prey for Rock & Roll. This is a decent film to engage with for the duration of its runtime and probably not think that much more about once you’ve finished. I’m more interested in why it’s so hard to find the film than the film’s actual story. The safe variation of edginess and some semi-notable names in the film should suggest a film that gets at least some sort of digital release. But other than an early DVD release, the distribution company hasn’t done anything with this film. And that is a bit of a shame because this is a fine movie. There’s way worse stuff getting its umpteenth re-release and we can’t even get Prey for Rock & Roll silently dropped onto Tubi or something?

Overall rating: 5.9/10

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