MOVIE REVIEW

School of Rock, The  (2003)

Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White
Director: Richard Linklater

Rating: PG-13

Studio: Paramount

Release Date: 10.03.03

Review Posted: 10.03.03

Spoilers: None

By Sara M. Fetters

"School of Rock" Hits the Right Notes

The list of great Rock’n’Roll movie s is a short one. For some inexplicable reason, it is near impossible to get the crazed, cutting edge insanity of head-banging musicianship translated up on the big screen. The Beatles got it right with “A Hard Days Night,” the greatest Rock movie ever made, as did Cameron Crowe three years a go with “Almost Famous” and Rob Reiner with his seminal classic mocumentary “This Is Spinal Tape.” (Granted, how much of the success on that one was due to Reiner and how much was due to “Best in Show” auteur Christopher Guest is up to speculation.)

Now the inherently personal independent filmmaker Richard Linklater (“Waking Life,” “Dazed and Confused”), working from a script by the equally avant-garde Mike White (“Chuck & Buck,” “The Good Girl”), takes his turn at trying to craft the next great Rock’n’Roll movie. Starring irreverent high-strung comedian (and Tenacious D frontman) Jack Black (“Orange County”, the duo have crafted a highly amusing movie that’s one part “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” two parts “This Is Spinal Tape” and mixed with just a dash heavy metal anarchy. And while the resulting film “School of Rock” doesn’t quite make it into the Rock’n’Roll move hall of fame, it’s still a pretty damn fine way to spend a couple of hours.

Black plays wannabe rock star and all around lay-a-bout Dewey Finn. After a disastrous showing at a local club, the bank he started kicks him unceremoniously out of their lives. Making matters worse, the spiteful girlfriend of best friend and roommate Ned (writer White) has convinced her easily plied beau that Dewey needs to start paying rent. At his wits end, and knowing he needs cash to put together a new band (forget the bills), the slovenly lout pretends to be his best friend and takes his job subbing at a local private elementary school.

At first, Finn can’t believe the new level of hell he’s suddenly found himself. These kids actually like the idea of education, having a teacher that only wants to teach them the basics of getting over a hangover not their cup of tea. But after overhearing them practice in music class, the failed rock star is struck with inspiration: he’ll turn the kids into a Rock’n’Roll band and use them to win first prize in a local Battle of the Bands competition. Soon the kids are learning, not their fractions or how to use the Dewey Decimal System, but the merits of a Led Zepplin guitar riff, the glories of an Aretha Franklin wail and the sublime splendor of a Queen thundering drum solo.

This move should not work in so many ways - I just can’t begin to count them all. The last thing the world really needs is another feel-good teacher movie where student and educator alike are elevated because of the relationship; where they learn things about how to live a life of goodness, the students realizing their potential and the teacher becoming complete in the realization that he made a difference. It’s enough to just make a person vomit just thinking about it.

From “School of Rock,” I get the feeling Linklater, White and Black all agree with me. This isn’t a movie were major lessons are learned, where people change their entire outlooks on life and where a severely flawed human being suddenly becomes whole. This is a crude, loopy, slightly unhinged motion picture, put together almost as if it was some particularly industrial bootleg Rock album. It’s disorganized and ungainly, and not always altogether fun to watch, but boy is it ever funny.

Black commands the screen. His first real headlining role, he takes center stage and refuses to let go, even when the movie’s talented cast of youngsters keeps threatening to upstage him. What more, his Dewey doesn’t learn all that much by the time the film’s over. Much like Walter Matthau in “The Bad News Bears,” he’s still pretty much a giant, selfish slob; he’s just discovered that helping kids discover what The Sex Pistols and Chuck Berry are all about can be kind of fun.

The kids are great, however, and the movie would be lost without them. Linklater does a magnificent job of giving each of the talented youngsters their due, at least one scene apiece to give them an opportunity to shine.  So natural and at ease, the standout for me was little Robert Tsai, the band’s keyboardist. Watching him loosen up, finding the nuance in every note and keystroke and arguing with his dad about the merits of “rocking out” is a hoot, the kid showing all the naturalistic timing of a seasoned comic. But, they’re all great, each deserving their own paragraph. There just isn’t the time to do it.

Don’t get me wrong. “School of Rock” has its faults. The film is severely disjointed in places and a few of the adult characterizations are extremely unpleasant. I could have done without the much of the stereotyping, especially where it came to the sure-to-be-gay kid, and the adults are all a mixture of idiot and idiot savant – take your pick. It’s also hard to get too worked up about a movie that does the impossible and makes the wonderful Joan Cusack (an Oscar nominee for “Working Girl” and “In & Out”) unfunny, the actress herself even commenting at one point that, “there was a time when I was funny.” Yes, Joan, there was, and it’s been in almost every other movie you’ve ever appeared. Somehow Linklater and White have let you down this time.

I’m going to forgive this travesty, however, for “School of Rock” on the whole really surprised me. It features some of the year’s biggest laughs and gets the essence of what makes great Rock’n’Roll spot on. While this isn’t a major Lalapalooza-type event, Black and his talented troupe of youngsters still know how to hit all the right notes.

Rating: êêê  (out of 4)

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