Critic Doctor (Herb Kane) - Review by Peter Sobsczynski: School of Rock

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FILM REVIEW

THE SCHOOL OF ROCK
by Peter Sobczynski

October 3, 2003

1/2 (out of 4 stars)

FILM CREDITS: Written by Mike White. Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White and Sarah Silverman.

In Well, we busted out of class

Had to get away from those fools

We learned more from a three-minute record, baby,

Than we ever learned in school

-Bruce Springsteen

It has been more than two months since I first saw "The School of Rock" and I am still a little unsure as to my feelings towards it. On the one hand, it is a delightful, hugely entertaining crowd-pleaser of a comedy with a great central performance and a lot of laughs throughout. On the other hand, and I realize that this is going to sound pretty odd, it is a film that never really aspires to be anything more than a hugely entertaining crowd-pleaser-and since it was made by Richard Linklater, one of the most distinctive and unique American directors to emerge over the last decade, the lack of any greater ambition is slightly disappointing. This is not to say that it isn't worth watching-it most certainly is-but for the few moviegoers who will be interested in seeing "The School of Rock" because it was made by the man responsible for gems like "Slacker" and "Waking Life", they may well find themselves walking away, as I did, with a few reservations.

Jack Black, that inimitable force of nature, stars as Dewey Finn, a struggling musician who is a lifelong slave to the power of rock and roll. Unfortunately, his zealotry knows so few bounds-such as a penchant for endless guitar solos and attempts at crowd-surfing when there isn't a crowd to surf-that he has become a joke and, on the even of the annual Battle of the Bands, his group fires him. To make matters worse, his current living arrangement-crashing on the floor of friend Ned (Mike White, who also wrote the screenplay), a former bandmate who gave up the music life to work as a substitute teacher-is in danger of ending soon unless he finally coughs up some rent money.

One day, Dewey intercepts a call for Ned asking him to take over teaching a fifth-grade class at the prestigious Horace Green Elementary School and, pretending to be Ned, takes the job himself. Dewey, who assumes that a fifth-grade teacher is essentially a baby-sitter, is immediately at a loss as to how to teach his class of gifted overachievers-his most successful educational moment is when he instructs his charges as to what a hangover is-and being under the watchful eye of the suspicious Principal Mullins (Joan Cusack) isn't helping matters either. Dewey is about to pack it in when he happens to overhear his students in their orchestra class and discovers that they can really play and inspiration strikes-he will secretly spend class time molding them into a band that he will lead into victory at the Battle of the Bands.

The kids, however, are not necessarily alright with this-most of them prefer their regular studies and their idea of an "oldie" is "Genie in a Bottle". Finally, Dewey seizes on a subject that he actually can teach and proceeds to dedicate his classes to not only forming a band but to also educate them on the history of rock (such as developing flow charts illustrating how The Clash eventually begat Green Day) and lectures on the evils of "The Man" and the joys of rebelling against him. Soon, the kids become more confident and actually pull together, under the noses of their parents, teachers and principal, into a fully-functioning musical unit (the non-performing kids get lessons in becoming managers, tour coordinators, security and groupies-the latter, thankfully, is illustrated more along the muse-like lines that Cameron Crowe used in "Almost Famous") that is ready to do battle in the upcoming contest.

The plot is preposterous, of course, and the very idea of a movie teaming up an actor best known for his wild-man persona with a group of precocious children sounds gag-inducing. However, "School of Rock" manages to overcome these obstacles and winds up becoming far better than its premise would indicate. One key element in the success of the film is that the kids-largely newcomers making their screen debuts-are a.) portrayed more like real kids and less like sitcom contrivances and b.) actually very good musicians. Instead of casting a bunch of cute kids and dubbing in the music later, the decision was made to cast kids who could actually play instruments and put them to work with Jim O'Rourke, who has worked with bands like Sonic Youth. In the end, the filmmakers got lucky and cast a bunch of kids who were not only good musicians but who could also be entertaining during the non-musical segments as well. (I especially the performances by Chicago native Rebecca Brown, as the bass player, and Miranda Cosgrove, who is a scream as the band's manager.)

The other key element is the wonderfully over-the-top performance of Jack Black as Dewey. You probably know Black best as the obnoxious know-it-all clerk in the great "High Fidelity" (I still treasure the scene where he somehow managed to transform a hypothetical question about relationships into a speech on the glories of "Evil Dead II") and his performance her is, to a degree, an extension of that earlier role and, indeed, to the wild characterization that Black has created for himself both through his film work and as the leader of the cult band Tenacious D (which started as a sort of joke and quickly grew into a better group than most of the others currently performing these days). With this, there was the danger that, like so many iconoclasts in the past, his innately subversive persona might itself be subverted in a bid for mainstream acceptance. Happily, that is not the case here-he is just as nutty as before and (more importantly), he once again shows that, like John Belushi (the performer he is most often compared to), he has the ability to act in a completely obnoxious manner while still retaining a certain sweetness and genuine innocence. (It is clear that he behaves that way not because he wants to but because that is simply the way that he was wired.)

As I am a huge fan of Jack Black (who can play quieter roles as well-check out his work in "Dead Man Walking" and the little-seen "Jesus's Son"), I had high expectations for "The School of Rock" but what really had me looking forward to it was the presence of Richard Linklater as director; his 1993 film "Dazed and Confused" took similar youth-movie material (a bunch of kids goofing around on the last day of school in 1976) and transformed it into a masterpiece by not only making a wonderfully funny comedy but by examining the tenets of the genre with the precision of an anthropologist. However, those hoping that Linklater would somehow find a way to marry his sensibilities within a frankly commercial framework (in the way that Steven Soderbergh did with "Out of Sight" and "Traffic") will probably be slightly disappointed to learn that "The School of Rock" is the least quirky and most utterly straightforward movie of his career. However, to give Linklater credit, he does do a fine job here-he keeps things moving along and manages to keep Black loose without letting him derail the proceedings-and there are a couple of startlingly lovely sequences (such as the centerpiece scene in which Dewey first performs his new song for his students) that briefly remind you that there is a master filmmaker at the controls. Fans of Linklater can also console themselves with the knowledge that when this film makes a zillion dollars, which it almost certainly will do, it will provide him, as it did with Soderbergh when it came time to make "Full Frontal" and "Solaris", with enough money and studio credibility to allow him to make his own films without hassle for several years.

-- PETER SOBCZYNSKI

CRITIC DOCTOR DISCLAIMER

While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.

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