Jack Black and Kyle Gass formed rock band Tenacious D a dozen years ago. Noteworthy, mostly, for their wild and profane lyrics, their existence has witnessed a best selling album, a short-lived HBO series, and the movie stardom of lead singer Jack Black. This movie rewrites the history of the self-proclaimed, 'greatest band in the world' origins.

In this version, JB (that's Jack Black in case you haven't yet caught on to the Wildean wit at the heart of this comedy) runs away from the Christian values of pop as personified by Meat Loaf (in an inspired bit of casting) and meets guitarist KG (Kyle Gass) on a beach. A hilarious Clockwork Orange reference leads to the duo becoming tight and the sound of Tenacious D is born. Except they lack that certain magic. To become rock legends they need to steal a fabled guitar pick from the Sacramento Museum of Rock and therein follows a Mission Impossible styled venture.

The plot is poor, standard fare, involving winning battle of bands and becoming great and the flick relies heavily on cameos from Ben Stiller and Tim Robbins and the wiles of Black for jokes. The trouble is, Black's been here before in Richard Linklater's infinitely better School of Rock. It's a fun ride in the puerile style of Kevin Smith, but for non-fans of Black or the D, this will grate like a tone-deaf musician.

General release from Fri 24 Nov.

Read interview with Jack Black and Kyle Glass