School of Rock (2003): *** (DVD)
Review: School of Rock (DVD)
Starring: Jack Black, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Joan Cusack, and more
Rated PG-13 for some rude humor and drug references.
Warning! - Spoilers ahead!
You guys, maybe it's something in my water supply, but I've really enjoyed the past 10 or so movies I've seen, and that's unusual. Where has my cynicism gone? Am I going to have to get it back by people-watching at the mall? What? Oh, School of Rock. OK, then. This movie is an extremely by-the-numbers, cliché film about Achieving Your Dreams, but you know what? I don't care. A well-done cliché is still well-done.
I wouldn't say I'm a huge Jack Black fan. He's like double-fudge cake. He's fine at first and in small doses, but ingest too much, and damn, are you sorry. For the first 15 minutes of the movie, this was all I could think about. My eyes threatened more than once to roll out of my head as I watched Black (playing Dewey Finn, a mooching clueless guitarist in a third-rate band) once again going through the motions of being the pedantic, music-addicted jerk. I really wasn't in the mood for High Fidelity 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Things starting looking up (for me, anyway) after Dewey gets kicked out of the band, and in an effort to make some money, pretends to be his roommate Ned Schneebly (Mike White), a substitute teacher. He accepts a position at a highbrow prep-school run by Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack), and things get off to a bumpy start as Dewey basically ignores the kids in his class, using them as a captive audience to air his many complaints about the world. One day, he overhears them in music class, and is shocked to hear how much talent they have. He quickly forms them into a motley crew (Ha, ha! A little music joke for you all out there. No, don't get up, I'll kick my own ass), and plans to enter the class into a Battle of the Bands competition.
The bulk of the movie is basically letting Black's personality bounce off each of the individual kids', while keeping their band rehearsals and rock music history lessons hidden from their parents and the principal. Some favorites of mine among the kids include Tomika (Maryam Hassan), a shy chubby girl who looks uncannily like Tracy Chapman and Summer (Miranda Cosgrove), a brown-nosing grade-grubber. Of course, it wouldn't be an "achieving-your-dreams-in-the-face-of-obstacles" movie without some obstacles, and we get the basic ones, from refusal to let the kids go on a "field-trip" to refusal to let the kids audition. And of course, the whole Parents Just Don't Understand motif is out in full force.
When the real Schneebly finds out what Dewey has been doing, his snotty arrogant girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman) calls the cops, who reveal Dewey's fraudulence in front of the principal and all of the children's parents. Sarah Silverman better stop playing bitchy whiners so convincingly and often, or there's gonna be trouble ahead. Sarah? Seriously? I only say this because I care. The parents are in an uproar, of course, and even moreso when they discover that the kids have ditched school to go play in the concert.
As their furious parents show up at the theater, the "School of Rock" (this is what the children have named themselves) go onstage and wow the crowd with their performance. You know the drill. It's forever the Revenge of the Nerds Greek Council skit competition. They do not win the Battle of the Bands, but the crowd chants their name, bringing them back on for an encore. The parents are amazed and proud that their children are so talented, and allow them to continue seeing Dewey after school for band practice. As the credits roll, we see them perform a final song.
Two final lessons, children:
1) A predictable movie can still be entertaining.
2) Joan Cusack can basically do no wrong. She could probably play Hitler, and I'd still like her.
Starring: Jack Black, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Joan Cusack, and more
Rated PG-13 for some rude humor and drug references.
Warning! - Spoilers ahead!
You guys, maybe it's something in my water supply, but I've really enjoyed the past 10 or so movies I've seen, and that's unusual. Where has my cynicism gone? Am I going to have to get it back by people-watching at the mall? What? Oh, School of Rock. OK, then. This movie is an extremely by-the-numbers, cliché film about Achieving Your Dreams, but you know what? I don't care. A well-done cliché is still well-done.
I wouldn't say I'm a huge Jack Black fan. He's like double-fudge cake. He's fine at first and in small doses, but ingest too much, and damn, are you sorry. For the first 15 minutes of the movie, this was all I could think about. My eyes threatened more than once to roll out of my head as I watched Black (playing Dewey Finn, a mooching clueless guitarist in a third-rate band) once again going through the motions of being the pedantic, music-addicted jerk. I really wasn't in the mood for High Fidelity 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Things starting looking up (for me, anyway) after Dewey gets kicked out of the band, and in an effort to make some money, pretends to be his roommate Ned Schneebly (Mike White), a substitute teacher. He accepts a position at a highbrow prep-school run by Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack), and things get off to a bumpy start as Dewey basically ignores the kids in his class, using them as a captive audience to air his many complaints about the world. One day, he overhears them in music class, and is shocked to hear how much talent they have. He quickly forms them into a motley crew (Ha, ha! A little music joke for you all out there. No, don't get up, I'll kick my own ass), and plans to enter the class into a Battle of the Bands competition.
The bulk of the movie is basically letting Black's personality bounce off each of the individual kids', while keeping their band rehearsals and rock music history lessons hidden from their parents and the principal. Some favorites of mine among the kids include Tomika (Maryam Hassan), a shy chubby girl who looks uncannily like Tracy Chapman and Summer (Miranda Cosgrove), a brown-nosing grade-grubber. Of course, it wouldn't be an "achieving-your-dreams-in-the-face-of-obstacles" movie without some obstacles, and we get the basic ones, from refusal to let the kids go on a "field-trip" to refusal to let the kids audition. And of course, the whole Parents Just Don't Understand motif is out in full force.
When the real Schneebly finds out what Dewey has been doing, his snotty arrogant girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman) calls the cops, who reveal Dewey's fraudulence in front of the principal and all of the children's parents. Sarah Silverman better stop playing bitchy whiners so convincingly and often, or there's gonna be trouble ahead. Sarah? Seriously? I only say this because I care. The parents are in an uproar, of course, and even moreso when they discover that the kids have ditched school to go play in the concert.
As their furious parents show up at the theater, the "School of Rock" (this is what the children have named themselves) go onstage and wow the crowd with their performance. You know the drill. It's forever the Revenge of the Nerds Greek Council skit competition. They do not win the Battle of the Bands, but the crowd chants their name, bringing them back on for an encore. The parents are amazed and proud that their children are so talented, and allow them to continue seeing Dewey after school for band practice. As the credits roll, we see them perform a final song.
Two final lessons, children:
1) A predictable movie can still be entertaining.
2) Joan Cusack can basically do no wrong. She could probably play Hitler, and I'd still like her.