Adventures Of Power

If you've ever sat in your car with the stereo pushed to its limit gesticulating wildly and rhythmically pounding the dashboard or wheel, oblivious to the amused looks from other motorists and if you are secret worshipper of the work of Neil Peart, Nigel Olsson or Phil Collins - then you may have the right stuff to be an air drummer.

By day, Power (Ari Gold) is a mild mannered New Mexico copper mine worker, by night he is an air-drumming god who performs at the local karaoke bar. Meanwhile, there is trouble at the mine - with the latest cruelty inflicted by the owner causing the workforce to strike. Power's dad (Michael McKean) leads the picket line; unfortunately Power can't join as he has been fired minutes before the strike.

At his lowest ebb, Power discovers a flyer for an air drumming competition in NYC; he sets forth in search of redemption. He soon meets up with a group of kindred spirits, a group of air drummers determined to win and coached by armless and frustrated drummer, Carlos (Steve Williams).

The stakes are raised when it is discovered that the mine owner's playboy son, Dallas (Adrian Grenier), has also entered the competition.

Adventures Of Power comes off as an amusing blend of The Full Monty, A Mighty Wind and Napoleon Dynamite, as nerdy air drummer Power chases his dreams. Can our hero save the day, win the competition and get the girl (the deaf cutie who works at the Chinese take-out where Power is working in NYC)? What do you think?

With a team of professional farceurs on board, such as McKean and Jane Lynch, the film is still stolen by Williams - a riot as the drill-sergeant air-drum coach. Gold makes for an endearingly useless hero, confident of his drumming prowess and little else.

The good-natured goofiness of the film is almost too fluffy for the social satire lurking beneath, the villains too caricatured to offer any menace and the whole thing goes on too long, but the nerdy teenager in your life should eat this up if he can put Guitar Hero down for long enough.