'School of Rock' review

Originally written the week of Oct. 20th/03

Rating: ***1/2 out of ****

Jack Black could very well be the essential ‘fat man’ comedian. He has all the wit and spark of John Candy, with the physical hilarity of Chris Farley, and he’s by far the closest thing to a resurrection of John Belushi that we’ve seen since the great comedian’s death.

Jack Black has one aspect going for him that places him on the same level as John Belushi – he is also a musician. His band “Tenacious D” has a hit record out and Black’s personal film career is going well. This ability to multi-task film makes Jack Black the definitive choice for the lead roll in “School Of Rock”, the new film by Richard Linklater. Linklater’s previous efforts include “Dazed and Confused”, “The Newton Boys”, “Tape”, and the tremendous “Waking Life”. “School Of Rock” may be the first “kid’s movie” that the adults will enjoy more than the children do.

Black plays Dewey Finn, a failing rock star who, after being kicked out his own rock band, assumes his best friend’s identity and takes a job as fifth grade substitute teacher at a snobby prep school. This is a great situational comedy written by Mike White, who previously has written “Orange County” (also starring Black) and “The Good Girl” – starring Jennifer Aniston. There were plenty of opportunities and elements in this film to make a campy, hokey, cliché. Examples are: the buffoon of a “teacher”, the evil principal of the school, and most importantly the children. That is where the film really surprised me and really shines. The children were not automatons. They were not robots, or made to be background noise – as in such films as “Daddy Day Care”. The children in this film reminded me more of “Kindergarten Cop”, in which the children could hold their own with the likes of Schwarzenegger. They were actually actors. As in that film, the child actors in “School Of Rock” is of such a caliber that they could hold there own with the likes of Jack Black or Joan Cusack – who plays the uptight principal.

Cusack is about as much a villain as a story like this affords itself. She is not a bad person, just a woman so overcome with rules and regulations that this has made her become distant from her friends and even her staff. Black’s character is able to bring the happiness in her out a little bit one afternoon, in a great scene, when he has her out for a drink and she has a few too many.

The women of the film seem to be shown in a very different light as compared to the men. There are really only two main women roles in the film and that is the Cusak role and the role of Patty Di Marco played by Sarah Silverman. Both women are very over-bearing and controlling. The character of Patty Di Marco is very demanding and controlling over her boyfriend Ned (whose identity Jack Black assumes). Ned is very whipped by her even though, ironically enough, she is always bitching at him to stand up for himself.

The men of the film seem to have a problem with maturity. The character of Ned needs to grow up and become his own man. He is always being walked on by everyone including his best friend and his girlfriend. Dewey seems to have the same problem except he needs to grow up, forget about the rock star fantasy, and get a real job.

School of Rock is by far one of the best comedies I’ve seen in the last few years. It is cute and sweet with intelligent humor for all ages and it succeeds in both being an enjoyable family film and in being a straight up funny movie – which many comedies have a hard time doing these days.