“Rock of Ages” tells the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, and more.

If you grew up in the 80s and listened to any amount of pop and rock music, Rock of Ages would be a nostalgic trip down memory lane - albeit a pretty cheesy one. However, as all the 80s babies would know, the entire era was founded on cheesiness, so Rock of Ages is par for the course.

Rock of Ages began as a Broadway musical, obviously attempting to build upon the success of Mamma Mia! - the same structure exists, where the story is forced to fit around the songs instead of the other way round. This structure remains in the movie though some songs have been swapped around, but it also means that there's actually very little room for character and plot development. As a result, Rock of Ages never really gels as a movie, and feels in the end more like vignettes or music videos revolving around the songs.

Whilst there are quite a few recognizable names in the cast, Tom Cruise is far and away the one with the most star power. Instead of just cruising by (pun not intended) on his fame, Cruise's portrayal of Stacee Jaxx is indeed the most memorable of the lot - it's like a mashup of real life 80s glam rockers, and his drugged up, spaced out turn as a rock god is probably one of his best.

In all honestly, no one will be watching Rock of Ages for the acting, and the true deciding factor is in the songs. The local distributor has astutely chosen to screen the sing along version of the film here, and this is quite an inspired decision. It may be a distraction in Western countries, but when screened in a country where karaoke is still very prevalent, it easily escalates Rock of Ages into a guilty pleasure, especially when so many of the songs will be familiar to the audience.