Manny The Movie Guy /

The Broadway show "Rock of Ages" by Chris D’Arienzo was critically and commercially well-received garnering five 2009 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical. Using popular arena rock and power ballads of the 80s, "Rock of Ages" simply rocked. The new movie adaptation follows the formula of the stage show. The result is an all-out music extravaganza that will rock you like a hurricane.

Like the musical, the characters of the movie are clichéd and the plot is formulaic. But the cast is great, the music is superb, and director Adam Shankman wants to give you nothing but a good time. And at its center is the scene-stealing Tom Cruise as the rock god, Stacee Jaxx. He alone is worth the price of admission.

The time is 1987, a hard-partying era when the hair is big and the costumes are small. The film tells the story of two young lovers, Drew Boiley (newcomer Diego Boneta) and Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough). The setting is The Bourbon Room in Los Angeles where he is a busboy and she is a waitress.

There are many songs dedicated to Drew and Sherrie denoting how they meet ("Sister Christian"/"Just Like Paradise") and fall in love ("Waiting for a Girl Like You"). Boneta did a good job as a wannabe rocker who suddenly is smitten by Hough’s young Oklahoman who dreams of making it big. It is interesting to note that this is Hough’s second 80s-inspired movie right after the remake "Footloose."

The comic relief of the movie is the duo of Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. Baldwin is Dennis Dupree, the nonchalant owner of The Bourbon Room and Brand is his right-hand man, Lonny Barnett. Their most memorable number is REO Speedwagon’s "I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore."

Dennis is busy arranging for Stacee Jaxx to appear at The Bourbon Room for his first solo performance after splitting from his band, Arsenal. The club, and the ideology it represents, is also getting heat from the religious conservative wife of Mayor Mike Whitman (Bryan Cranston), Patricia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Her battle cry is Pat Benatar’s "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."

Shankman, who previously gave us the Broadway adaptation "Hairspray," knows the limits of his material and allows his cast to have fun with their characters. The director has said that he wanted Cruise dead or alive for the role. We can all thank the rock gods for Cruise’s much-needed participation.

I had never been a Cruise believer. I thought he was an excellent re-actor needing experienced thespians to bring out the best in him like Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man." But everything changed when I saw his small but memorable part as the dancing studio executive Les Grossman in 2008’s "Tropic Thunder."

Incidentally, "Tropic Thunder’s" screenwriter, Justin Theroux, receives screenplay credits in "Rock of Ages" along with D’Arienzo and Allan Loeb. Theroux also deserves credits for transforming Cruise right before our very eyes. "Rock of Ages" cements Cruise’s plans of maturing from leading man to character actor. I am certain that the actor deserves a Best Supporting Oscar nomination come awards season.

Cruise is joined by real-life recording artists whose songs are featured in the movie including Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme; Night Ranger’s Joel Hoekstra; Debbie Gibson; Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach; REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin. Completing the main cast is Malin Ackerman as a Rolling Stone contributor; Mary J. Blige as a strip club owner; and the always fantastic Paul Giamatti as Jaxx’s cheating manager.

"Rock of Ages" celebrates rock and roll and uses popular music as a way to both honor and poke fun at the era. Whether you like 80s music or not, this movie will make you sing and dance all the way home. Welcome to Paradise City.