ORDINARY WORLD RATING MOVIE

Those can sometimes run long and the story can kind of stagnate at times, sure, but they are still worthwhile for their charismatic, complex characters. With this in mind, it’s not his fault that the plot is not especially memorable, like a weaker Judd Apatow entry. However, at no time is his performance awkward or uncomfortable he plays the role well and is completely believable as an aging rocker running in place while looking back wistfully on a more exciting past. It feels especially difficult to gauge Armstrong’s acting muscles based on this role, because playing a relatively ordinary character that feels close to his reality, he doesn’t have much opportunity to flex them.

It’s helpful that the role isn’t too far removed from Armstrong’s actual life, albeit a far less fruitful version of the superstar’s IRL timeline: Instead of being credited with bringing punk music to a wider mainstream audience and eventually being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Perry Miller’s band is in the midst of a ten-year indefinite hiatus, a break that seems more definite by the day as he settles into family life and working at his family’s hardware store. In Ordinary World, which will see a video on demand and limited theatrical release on October 14, the punk rocker is tasked with playing the main protagonist, but how well does he pull it off?

ORDINARY WORLD RATING MOVIE

His desire to perform and entertain across multifarious media is clear, and now Armstrong has been given the chance to carry his own movie as the lead actor. Jimmy in American Idiot, the musical based on the band’s eponymous album, and he’s acted in films like This Is 40 and Like Sunday, Like Rain. Yes, he’s the frontman of Green Day, perhaps the most important rock band of the past 20 years, but he also dabbles in acting.

Ordinary world rating