Ordinary World - Green Day singer's Hollywood debut

MOVIES Tonight's movie was none other than one called "Ordinary World". At first, I thought this would be a musical documentary about Duran Duran.

But instead, it was a film about growing up, and dealing with decisions in life, essentially. Being a movie about a punk-rocker now turning into a forty year old family, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day (who plays the lead role), was obviously a nice fit. I'm not overly busy following Billie's personal life in the tabloids etc, but still being very much an active musician, he obviously not the has-been of a rock star he's portraying in this movie. But he manages to sell the story quite convincingly nonetheless. Especially so, considering it's his first movie ever (as far as I know). And with so little experience, his performance shouldn't leave anyone dissatisfied.

Is it just me or is Billie boy actually transforming into Mark Ruffalo?

There were no real references to Green Day at all in the movie, apart from some songs in the score. The first 5 minutes of the movie is probably as close as you get to anything resembling Green Day, as the film throws you back to 1996, showing some TV interview and live performance with the fictional band L.E.S. Skunks, as Billie's – or "Perry"'s – band were at a high point in their career. Obviously, this coincides fairly well with Green Day's major breakthrough, and has Billie sort of re-imagining his bleach blonde period of the mid 90's in the scene. Billie's obviously not the twitchy, hyper 20 year old he once was, but still kinda funny to see how little the guy's actually aged, over the last 20 years.

The movie itself was okay. The story was a bit lacklustre though and didn't have much to offer in terms of plot twists or anything that really grabbed me or even made me laugh. Since they even had some funny guys like Fred Armisen and Brian Baumgartner in the cast, that says a lot. Selma Blair is probably the biggest name in the movie as far as traditional acting experience is concerned. But she got surprisingly little screen on-time in this movie, which was almost entirely focused on Billie's character. And without Billie in it, the film would probably be very forgettable. So for anyone unfamiliar with Billie and Green Day, this movie is nothing to write home about, really.

What if you're a Green Day fan, then? Well, with or without Green Day (or any reference to the band) actually in it, my guess is the fans of the band are gonna see it regardless. Well, at least I did, mostly out of sheer curiosity. I mean, who wouldn't want to see THIS GUY, in a freaking ROM-COM (well...of sorts):