Review of The School of Rock (2003) by Vguru R — 18 Nov 2014

Most definitely one of my favorite Jack Black films and even Linklater films, I absolutely love SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003). Also can anyone else believe that the guy who did Dazed & Confused and the Before... trilogy would do a movie like School of Rock? The film is about down-on-his-luck guitarist Dewey Finn (Black) who was kicked out of his band, but then disguises himself as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school by masquerading as his roommate (Mike White). But, he realizes the immense musical talent of his students and decides to form a band with these fourth graders in order to win the next Battle of the Bands and pay off his rent before he is evicted by his roommate and his girlfriend (Sarah Silverman). First of all, I know the plot sounds a little crazy yet Linklater makes it work with an amazing screenplay (also written by Mike White) and he draws out one of the best Jack Black performances ever. And of the child actors in the film, only Miranda Cosgrove blew up into a huge star afterwards. Not only is it a fantastic musical film, it also showed me that Black could do some more dramatic (ish) roles. He's not giving out anything Oscar-worthy here, but at times he really showed some real emotion and did not destroy it with some really absurd comedy afterwards.

School of Rock is more like a musical comedy, but there are a few serious moments in this film in which Dewey has to come to terms with some personal/professional aspects of his life. On the front cover it seems like a simple and enjoyable film (don't get me wrong, it is entertaining), but don't discount some of the more insightful scenes in the movie. I feel like a lot of people would not realize School of Rock to be a Richard Linklater film because not many would expect him to tackle a project like this. He likes to use the progression of time as a primary tool- Actually I would say that he usually utilizes time as character in movies like the Before trilogy and also Boyhood (which was released this year). In this film however that is not the case, but what a great job he did directing it anyway. This is also one of the few films that he has not written the script for, but White's screenplay is still energetic, hilarious, and kept me engaged with the characters throughout. After seeing this Linklater-Black collaboration, I'm really eager to see them do more work together in the future (I know they did Bernie but I still want more).

Like I said, this film features one of the best Jack Black performances ever. He isn't ALWAYS acting over-the-top-quirky (up to the point where it's annoying) and Black rather found a nice balance by showing a fun, human side to the character. Black pulls off every scene amazingly, and these are the types of roles I think he's better of doing-he even got a Golden Globe nod for his performance too. Of course, a few months later he goes off to do the comedy Envy with Ben Stiller... Let's not talk about that. I shall rather talk the other stars of the film: the kids. All the child actors were great, which is surprising because I don't see that too often in films (look to The Last Airbender for the best example of horrid child actors). Each and every one of them brought their own unique talent to the group and watching the relationship between the kids and Dewey grow was astounding. At first he uses them for a cash grab, but by the end I suddenly realized, "Whoa they have an actual bond. He actually cares about these not-so annoying kids" Hence, character arcs. Essentially he sees that they have potential to be something great, to have their minds opened to a world of pure imagination (or as Dewey calls it, "rock and roll!") Honestly though, it was surprising by the end that I didn't find any of them annoying. Same with Sarah Silverman. I mean she's a real ______ in this one; it is nothing like the gross-out humor that I have seen from her recently. Joan Cusack also stars, playing the principal of the prep school at which Dewey teaches. I wouldn't call it one of her best performances, but it's definitely a great one nonetheless. The only character I did not care about at all was Ned aka Dewey's roommate aka Mike White. I personally thought it was a really bland character and the comedy from having someone like that did not work at all for me.

So with a title like School of Rock one would expect there to be a pretty awesome soundtrack for the film. Luckily there is, and I really enjoyed watching them be performed in the movie. What's even cooler is when I found out that Linklater attempted to find actual teenage musicians to play the songs in the soundtrack and in the film. In terms of technical aspects, all I was really looking for when I first watched this movie was whether or not School of Rock would have cool rock songs. And thank God it does, because then a crucial part of the film would have been destroyed without them (can't have School of Rock without the Rock part people).

This film is a classic on so many levels, and it has amazing re-watchability. Whenever I see School of Rock floating around on TV I immediately want to watch it, and to this day it still holds up. I'll say it again though, Linklater did a magnificent job directing but I never expected him to do a movie like this or one with Jack Black. It's unfortunate that this movie will apparently be adapted into a TV show on Nickelodeon instead of getting a sequel (or even better: leaving it alone). Oh well, I'll be hoping for the best. Overall, School of Rock is hilarious, entertaining, and features an amazing script alongside Linklater's masterful direction and one of Jack Black's best performances - 8.5/10.