School of Rock (2003)

The School Of RockJack Black carries this musical show on its back all through the movie with the help of Richard and his magic box that has some unusual characters and also offers some great music.

Jack Black stars as a failed rock musician who in financial desperation, pretends to be his friend Mike White and takes a job as a substitute teacher at a prestigious private elementary school. Having no qualification, he initially treats it as an opportunity to goof of, until he realizes that his students are fairly gifted musicians. He trains them to be a rock band so that he can enter a battle of the bands competition and get revenge on his former band mates who kicked him out. Do I even need to tell you that Black learns to care about these kids? There's really nothing original here, but Black is in his element here and makes the material work. He gets some pretty solid support from Joan Cusack as the school principal. It's hardly among Richard Linklater's best films, but his relaxed, stoner style is well suited for the material.

Dewey Finn: Dude, I service society by rocking, OK? I'm out there on the front lines liberating people with my music! "We don't need no education." School of Rock has been another go to movie for me for the last 7 or 8 years. For me, this is an easy winner because I am a Jack Black fan and because I love the music their playing. Black is a musician that can hold his own and the kids in the movie are great at their respected instrument. The film is funny, well-written by Mike White, and directed with surprising style by Richard Linklater. Like I said, Black is in the lead and he gives probably the best comedic performance of his life as Dewey Finn. School of Rock follows the misadventures of Dewey. He's a loser who is trying to make it big in the music industry. His band plays small bars and he lives with a friend and his friends girlfriend, mooching of them for rent. Dewey's friend at the request of his girlfriend tells him if he doesn't come up with rent, they are going to kick him out. More bad news comes in the form of Dewey getting kicked out of his band. He tries to rebound with a new band, but finding people isn't easy. When he takes a substitute teaching job, posing as his friend teacher, he meets a group of kids that can rock, and tries to use them to win the Battle of the Bands. This is a different type of movie for Linklater. I guess if you examine his film career, this would tie in most closely with Bad News Bears; except that School of Rock is much, much better. It also rings with great music much like his comedic stoner masterpiece Dazed and Confused did. School of Rock is just plain fun. It's hard not to have a good time watching Jack Black totally embrace a role like this. This is the Jack Black character. He is at his best when he plays himself, and Dewey Finn is just less profane Jack Black from Tenacious D. So seeing him here is just as much fun as watching him in Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. A great, family friendly, music comedy from a great director and a cast of good musicians. The songs are catchy, the jokes funny, and the story clever. Yeah, it follows a pretty basic formula for its success, but you can't sent the luring power of the pit stops White take with his writing. The lessons in class, the lunchroom conversations, and just letting Black perform.

It is clear from fairly early on in "School of Rock" that its primary purpose is to showcase the manic acting talents of Jack Black over everything else. Oftentimes, that can lead to a rather shallow movie (as the plot and auxiliary characters aren't fleshed out as they should be), but in this case the film still ends up being rather entertaining because of the novelty and the music.For a basic plot summary, "School of Rock" tells the story of Dewey Finn (Black), a middle-aged man who crashes (never paying the rent) at the home of enabling friend Ned (Mike White). You see, Dewey still harbors the rock-and-roll band fantasies of his youth despite the fact that his prospects do not look great. One day, however, Dewey intercepts a substitute teaching call for Ned and assumes his identity, showing up completely unprepared at a fancy prep academy for grade school-ers. The one thing Dewey does know how to do/teach? Rock.Like I said, "School of Rock" is primarily a vehicle to showcase Black's manic style of performing, and it does that very well. Black never loses energy in a single scene, and his "Legend of the Rent" performance in front of his pupils (shot all in one take) is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen on film! I feel like watching too much of Black would be exhausting, but contained in this single movie it is a rush of energy.Two other aspects of the film really keep it entertaining: -The basic concept (teaching children how to rock) has never really been done before, at least that I've on. It is entertaining to see the students go from stuck up preppies to confident rockers over the course of the film.-The music, which is always upbeat and fun to listen to. During the times in the film where the plot drags or becomes a bit too corny, there's always that next musical number right around the corner to look forward to.So, I can consider "School of Rock" very entertaining despite its obvious limitations (being a vehicle film, having a super-cheesy plot, etc.). It won't rocket to the top of any "best of" lists, but it will create a few iconic music-movie moments. As long as you aren't expecting something deep, you'll have fun watching this!