Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
view
per page
  1. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Mark Bell
    80
    In the end, Jack, Kyle and director Liam Lynch ("Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic") have created more than just a low-brow comedy, they've created a comedic saga, a film more rock show than movie.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    75
    Comic gold for anyone who is currently stoned, has been stoned in the past or spends a lot of time around stoned people.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: John DeFore
    70
    Sticks to formula but delivers some seriously dumb laughs.
  4. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    70
    "The Blues Brothers" it is not, but in its best moments, the movie feels like a comic exaggeration of the real hardships that a couple of average, decidedly unhip guys went through on their unlikely way to the top.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    67
    Works just like a Tenacious D song. The movie feels giddy and eruptive, dopily enthralled with itself, and more or less made up on the spot.
  6. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    67
    In a world in which "Borat" is a global brand, there's certainly a place for Tenacious D -- who, after all, are merely the greatest band in the world: Just ask 'em.
  7. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    67
    It's colorful and determinedly kooky, with "Kung Fu" references and an H.R. Pufnstuf interlude between performances.
  8. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    67
    From the looks of it, a good 90 percent of The D's creative juices were expended on The Pick Of Destiny's brilliant opening sequence.
  9. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    63
    The Pick of Destiny is fast and funny, and you can't beat the songs (especially the not exactly heartwrenching Dude I Totally Miss You).
  10. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    63
    Proudly, and often hilariously, juvenile, "Destiny" is packed with typically grandiose Tenacious D anthems - the sort that thrill 15-year-old boys listening alone in their bedrooms.
  11. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    63
    The beginning and end are classics.
  12. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    63
    Baked and half-baked, Tenacious D does manage to give the term potty humor a new meaning. That's some kind of genius, right?
  13. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    63
    Ultimately, Tenacious D is a sight gag -- two unprepossessing, chunky dudes rocking out like wiry guitar gods -- supplemented by spot-on digs at the macho bombast and Dungeons & Dragons silliness that drives heavy-metal mania.
  14. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    The movie is spotty. The short films, essentially comic sketches, were more consistently funny. The movie lags on occasion, but it also has quite a few laughs.
  15. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    63
    As a movie, it’s a mess — and lazy, too.
  16. Empire
    Reviewed by: Simon Crook
    60
    For fans, a crowd-surf over Tenacious D’s best bits. For the unbaptised, a novelty movie of a novelty band, big on spirit but in search of a script.
  17. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    60
    Not surprisingly, the pic struggles at times to flesh out even its relatively brief 90-odd-minute duration, but it delivers some genuine if generally low-brow laughs along the way.
  18. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    50
    A large amount of dope is smoked in The Pick of Destiny, perhaps the most since the salad days of Cheech & Chong. This may be the problem. Pot rarely helped anybody's comic timing.
  19. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    In the end, you have to possess a sweet spot for Black and his antics to find Tenacious D more than barely watchable.
  20. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    50
    As it exists, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is strictly for the tenaciously devoted.
  21. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    50
    A movie for people fascinated by toilets and Sabbath.
  22. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    50
    It's stoner comedy of the most absurd kind, part fryboy mental drizzle, part wink-wink audience baiting, and wholly, utterly funny.
  23. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    50
    Black and Kyle Gass started their acoustic/heavy metal rock music comedy act back in the late 1980s. Gold albums and HBO shorts followed, now this. Still, any movie featuring Jack Black with an appearance by Sasquatch is not a total loss, and, for those who care, we learn the origin of the group's name.
  24. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    50
    No matter how "mock" this epic gets, it isn't mock enough. The "D" in the title must stand for dead weight.
  25. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    50
    Tenacious D is utterly harmless and totally pointless. Black and Gass have been at this so long their dirty little joke has all the punch of a Catskills routine.
  26. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    As it wobbles from one episode to the next, The Pick of Destiny is a garish mess, and some of it feels padded. But it has enough jokes to keep you smiling, and the spirit Mr. Black brings to it is a fervent (and touching) affection for the music he spoofs but obviously adores.
  27. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    50
    Jack Black and Kyle Gass bring characters they created for the HBO program "Mr. Show With Bob and David" to the big screen with mixed success, depending on the age, gender and degree of inebriation of the filmgoer.
  28. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    Most of the movie, about the search for a magical guitar pick, farts along at the level of a "Wayne's World" sketch.
  29. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Crust
    40
    Not only screams out to be a midnight movie, but one in need of, shall we say, an herbal supplement, and we aren't talking ginkgo biloba.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 119 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 60
  3. Negative: 19 out of 60
  1. RyanM.
    10
    Pure genius.
  2. Bender99
    7
    I think its safe to say it let fans down....... but funny and awesome music! And I still watch it over and over again. I would rather watch the hbo episodes. The new album is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… Full Review »
  3. StevenL.
    8
    I'm rating it an eight. I enjoyed it up to ten though. I realize that it lags at times and it really should be a 7, but i enjoyed it so i bumped it up to 8. But the song's Kickapoo & Beezleboss are 10's all around. Jack Black is money as usual, that warrants and eight.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »