(Out of 4)
Directed by Richard Linklater
Starring Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman
Running Time: 108m
Most Interesting Preview: Radio, Methinks Cuba Gooding Jr. is award bound with this one!!
Reviewed by: Jason Kolman
Chaka Says: "The most fun I’ve had since the gravity drive incident in the Mishmarsh!"
Finally! Somebody has done right by Jack Black. Somebody has actually made a movie where Jack Black can be the man and show off his talents. Forget Augie in “Airborne” or his stoned out loser in “Orange County.” Forget his Rasta-Man in “I Still Know...” and forget about his lame-o character in “Cable Guy.” This is Jack Black at his best and I feel privileged to be alive while this guy’s star continues to skyrocket!
“School of Rock” is excellent on so many levels. Everything you think you know about movies is laid to waste with this film. There are no real stereotypical characters...not the kind you’d expect anyway. The story isn’t the most original, but Black carries it with a manic energy that never ever lets up during the 108 minute run.
Black stars as Dewey Finn, a lead guitar player who has just been booted from the band for not being professional enough. His roommate is Ned Schneebly (White), who used to rock out, but is now whipped by his girl Patty (Silverman in way out of character mode). Patty wants Dewey out of the apartment that him and Ned share, because he never pays his rent. Dewey: “C’mon man, I’ve been mooching off you for years.” Ned is a substitute teacher, and when a school calls looking for him to temp, Black pretends to be him and takes the job. He figures at $650 a week, he can pay his rent and stay in the house. His other motive is to put together a band for the upcoming Battle of the Bands contest. First prize is $20,000.
Dewey is no teacher, and the first thing he teaches the kids is that a hangover means he was drunk yesterday. He then assigns them recess for the rest of the day. This is no ordinary school however. This is a 15 grand a year school, where the kids are already as smart as the teacher. One student, Summer, complains that Dewey should be teaching them and not assigning recess. Since Dewey is only there for the cash, he brushes off her comments, tears down the merit poster on the wall (Gold stars for good, black dots for bad) and informs the class that there will be no grades, nothing, while he is in charge.
On his second day at work, the kids have music class. Dewey spies them playing some classical music, and notices that one student, Zack, is quite excellent on the guitar, and other student have talents that can be adapted elsewhere (i.e. Bass, Drums, Keyboard). Dewey has the brainstorm to transform these kids into a rock band for their “class project.” What follows is comic gold!
I will not even describe any more of the plot. This is one of those movies that you simply must see. Every line, every scene, every movement is classic comedy, and Black’s over the top performance drives it home. You have to ignore the fact that he teaches the kids very little, and just accept the movie and the characters for who and what they are.
The beauty of this film is in it’s writing. The kids do not start off nasty and turn nice to the teacher. They are simply smart, yet confused kids who are curious as to why their teacher is so strange. And Dewey doesn’t start as a jerk and turn all gooey in the end. He is who he is. He loves rock and wants to share it with these kids. All the kids have problems, they’re confused, they have questions about growing up and the real world, their parents are hard on them. Even Cusack (in a great comic performance) could have been written as the stalwart principal of the school, the villain so to speak. Instead, she is written as a nice lady who has a tremendous task of running the number one school in NYC. Sometimes the pressure gets to her. She and Dewey develop a nice relationship that makes for some good scenes. If nothing else, this film dares to be different. We don’t need the standard fish out of water, connect the dots story again. The film has that one moment where everything appears to fail, but quickly resolves it and moves on. it doesn’t rely on an entire act of the film to patch things up. Merely one scene! Great job.
I would be remiss of I didn’t mention Jack Black again. The man is insane! He has so much untapped talent and he lays it all on the line here. His timing is on the ball, so much so that by the end of the film you laugh before he even says anything, because you know it is going to be hilarious. Early in the film, he kicks over a cymbal stand and stands there like a fat ninja, and for some reason, it just works. Black WILL be the next Belushi....he probably already is. The fact that his band, “Tenacious D” is pretty well known in the music world adds even more credibility to the role. Though I can’t say for sure if he THAT good of a guitar player.
The kids all play their roles well. This had to be a tough film to cast. You needed kids not only with acting ability, but musical ability as well. I know for sure at least one of them, Zack (Joey Gaydos) is quite the guitar player. Other standouts included Caitlin Hale as Marta (super cute), Maryam Hassan as Tomika (that shy girl with he great voice we all knew in elementary school) and Miranda Cosgrove as Summer Hathaway. Every kid is great in this film. They all act and sing and play their little hearts out.
Cusack, as always, is wonderful as the misunderstood principal. I’ve always said the woman is nuts, and she proves it again here. They way she casually tells a room of angry parents that “your children are all missing” is classic! How anybody can say that with that big of a smile on their face....funny stuff.
The final scene, the Battle of the Bands concert, plays great and sounds even better. The song performed by the band, aptly named “School of Rock” is a hummable rock tune that can hold it’s own with most tunes out there now. Black has the stage presence to pull it off and the kids don’t look half bad either.
The direction is solid as can be. Everything is real tight and concise. The rock concert is lit perfectly and looks like a real concert, and the sets design is as good as can be. Linklater, whose I confess, I’ve never heard of before this, looks to have a great career ahead of him. He takes White’s script and puts it on the screen and it looks great.
I would recommend this film to anybody. You don’t need to love rock music to see it. It is great for kids, teens, adults, anybody just looking for a good time. This is one I will most likely see again in the theater. I always enjoy a good laugh....and this is a great one!!!
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