School Of Rock

Release Date: October 3, 2003
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriter: Mike White
Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some rude humor and drug references)
Official Website: SchoolofRockmovie.com

Plot Summary: Black stars as a hell-raising guitarist with delusions of grandeur. Kicked out of his band and desperate for work, he impersonates a substitute teacher and turns a class of fifth grade high-achievers into high-voltage rock and rollers. Cusack portrays the principal of the private school where Black is prepping the kids for a Battle of the Bands.

Review By: Mike Thompson
- Who said they don't make 'em like they used to?

Jack Black is a comical genius, but mostly for adults or teens in my opinion. So when I was getting ready to watch School of Rock I was expecting a performance with jokes and actions that you would find in Saving Silverman or Shallow Hal. That is not what I found in this film. What we found in this production from Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) was a side of Jack Black that he’s been wanting to show in a movie for a while now. And that is his musical side. He and a friend (Kyle Gass) released an album by their band, Tenacious D in 2001. Though the music was a bit vulgar with some suggestive themes, Jack Black and his band produced some excellent music that was magic to the ear. In School he really gets to show off his excellent guitar and vocal talents along with telling everyone just how much he loves classic rock music.

The movie starts out showing Dewey Finn (Jack Black) making a performance in front of some sort of rock music club. The other musicians look annoyed by the act Dewey is putting on. We are then put in Dewey’s apartment waking up in the morning. His roommate, Ned (Mike White) an old rocker friend of Finn’s who has quit and become a substitute teacher because of a demanding girlfriend, comes to wake him up and tell him that he needs to pay the rent (only because his girlfriend is making him). Telling them that he will get the money he walks out to go practice with his band. He walks in to find another person in his place. He has been kicked out of the band. Now he has a lot of pressure to get the money for the rent and he wants to enter Battle of the Bands for a grand prize of twenty grand; so he needs a band.

As he is laying around the apartment doing nothing someone calls and is in need of a sub immediately. Dewey comes up with a plan to fake as Ned and get some extra money. When he gets to the school he finds out that the children in his class have great musical talent. When they come back to from music class, he tell them that they’re new class project is to create a rock band. Dewey goes through assigning people positions and fixing small problems that are essential for the band. The children, though not sure of the idea at first, take a huge liking to the project and start to really find themselves.

As I said before, I was expecting the usual performance from Jack Black with a kind of teen, formula driven movie. But School of Rock showed people not just his great musical talent and wonderful comical acting; it shows that Black can make an excellent movie that the whole family can see and love. The children actors are all wonderfully talented and show great potential for future films. It seemed like a lot of the movie was real and I have no doubt that every thing I heard in the film was real. This was an uplifting film that makes you happy to watch, and just makes you feel good all over. I recommend this film to the entire family, and I guarantee a fun experience.