Editor’s Note: This is the last week that Christopher Smith’s reviews will appear in the scene. Starting Sept. 21, his reviews will appear on Monday and Friday in the Style section.

In theaters

ROCK STAR, 110 minutes, R, directed by Stephen Herek, written by John Stockwell.

Considering its generic plot, burned-out conventions and wealth of rock star cliches, Stephen Herek’s “Rock Star” should have been a heavy-metal bore, but it’s actually the opposite. For the most part, the film is irresistible, a surprisingly good rock flick that overcomes its shortcomings with energy, style, personality, and a biting sense of humor.

Set in the mid-1980s, the film is loosely based on the real life story of Tim “Ripper” Owens, who replaced Rob Halford as the lead singer of Judas Priest. It follows one fan’s journey from the dream of being a rock star to the reality of actually becoming one. That fan is Chris Cole (Mark Wahlberg), a Pittsburgh-based copy-machine repairman who’s devoted his life to worshipping Steel Dragon, a fictional British rock group Chris mimics in his own tribute band called Blood Pollution.

For Chris, losing his identity is hardly a problem. After he gets fired from Blood Pollution for spilling some bad blood between his bandmates, he receives a call from Kirk Cuddy (Dominic West), the lead guitarist for Steel Dragon who’s seeking a replacement for Bobby Beers (Jason Flemyng), the band’s former lead singer and Chris’ longtime idol.

As the film’s trailer and television ads reveal, Chris auditions for the band, scores the gig and is tossed headlong into the maelstrom of rock superstardom. For a while, it’s an exciting life, one filled with drugs, booze, women and every other rock star cliche audiences can think of. But then Chris, who predictably loses sight of what really matters to him – namely, his girlfriend, Emily (Jennifer Aniston) – is forced to reconsider the realization of his dream, and who he really is as a person.

On paper, none of this sounds especially interesting. But the movie, which is a cross between last year’s “Almost Famous” and Rob Reiner’s 1984 film, “This is Spinal Tap,” nevertheless works. It’s especially strong during its first hour, when Herek, working from a screenplay by John Stockwell, has a great time tugging hard on the hair bands of the ’80s, particularly such shrieking standouts as Jackyl, Faster Pussycat, Trixter and Stryper.

Wahlberg’s blue-collar charm and innocence ground the movie, while his chemistry with Aniston lifts it. It’s a strong performance, but one that’s not surprising given Wahlberg’s beginnings as a scrappy kid from Boston who first hit it big as a rap star. He brings a lot to this role, but nothing that’s ever as important as his own life experience.

Grade: B

On video and DVD

SOMEONE LIKE YOU, 100 minutes, PG-13, directed by Tony Goldwyn, written by Elizabeth Chandler, based on the novel “Animal Husbandry” by Laura Zigman.

In Tony Goldwyn’s “Someone Like You,” Ashley Judd stars as Jane Goodale, a sweet, likable talent broker for a newly syndicated talk show who’s just been dumped by the fiendish Ray (Greg Kinnear). Heartbroken, Jane spends her downtime not necessarily in tears, but by developing a helpful theory that suggests all men are bulls – once they’ve had sex with a hot new bovine, they lose interest and move on to the next cow.

Apparently, as far as Jane is concerned, the problem with men is lodged in their genes. Indeed, as her research suggests, 95 percent of all men are genetically predisposed to being unfaithful.

As if Jane needed more proof that men are pigs (or bulls, you choose), the movie punctuates her theory with the addition of Eddie (Hugh Jackman), a gruff, chain-smoking wall of muscle who works with her on the “Diane Roberts Show.”

On the surface, Eddie is everything Jane fears, loathes and secretly loves – a confident bull-about-town who leads one bovine after another into the sumptuous pastures of his bedroom. But when circumstances conspire to throw Eddie and Jane together as platonic roommates, well, even a hamburger could figure out that Jane’s theories about men are about to be challenged as her relationship with Eddie deepens into something more than just friendship.

The problem with “Someone Like You” has nothing to do with its performances – the cast, including Ellen Barkin as a Diane Sawyer knockoff and Marisa Tomei once again cast as the sidekick girlfriend, goes through the motions with a cheerfulness that suggests everyone is being overpaid for their time.

Instead, the film hits the romantic skids with its lackluster direction and purple script, a great deal of which borrows from HBO’S “Sex in the City” and a handful of other comedies – particularly those by Nora Ephron. “Someone Like You” should have been called “Something Audiences Have Seen Time and Again.” Its situations and characters have been regurgitated so often by the Hollywood machine, the film has no shape, no character, no texture to call its own.

Indistinguishable and dull, it’s ultimately so awash

in heartache, whatever humor it tries to muster is eventually blown into the tattered recesses of an overused handkerchief. You know, the one

Hollywood has been using for years to clean up at the box office.

Grade: D

Christopher Smith is the

Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Blow ? D+

Someone Like You ? D

The Dish ? A-

Exit Wounds ? D

Memento ? A-

The Tailor of Panama ? A-

Joe Dirt ? D+

See Spot Run ? F

Willy Wonka and

the Chocolate Factory ? A-

Hannibal ? C+

15 Minutes ? D+

Blow Dry ? C+

Enemy at the Gates ? C

An Everlasting Piece ? B+

Get Over It ? B-

Josie and the

Pussycats ? F

Say It Isn’t So ? D+

Tomcats ? F

Chocolat ? A-

The Mexican ? C-

3000 Miles

to Graceland ? D

The Brothers ? B

Head Over Heels ? D

The Trumpet

of the Swan ? C+

Pollock ? A-

Sweet November ? D-

Valentine ? F

The Gift ? B+

Family Man ? D-

Saving Silverman ? F

Down to Earth ? D

Monkeybone ? D

Thirteen Days ? A-

Unbreakable ? C+

The Wedding

Planner ?D+

You Can

Count on Me ? A

Proof of Life ? C-

Save the Last Dance ? C-

State and Main ? B

O Brother,

Where Art Thou ? A-

Cast Away ? A-