School of rock, 2003
The plot
Guitarist Dewey (Black) gets kicked out of his band and needs rent money. He receives a call from a school asking for his roommate to come and substitute at a private school. Dewey decides to imitate his roomie Ned and takes the job. He then tries to use the class as his band for an upcoming Battle of the bands contest.
Cast
Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White and Sarah Silverman
The Good
I am not always a fan of Jack Black, but he made this film work with a very strong comedic performance. Joan Cusack was very good as well and she is too often underused in some films. The soundtrack was great. The kids were overall good, I was apprehensive about them at first but they did well for the most part. The ending because the main characters don't always have to win for things to work out right.
The Bad
Like most films with a lot of kids, it was a little sappy. The kids took to the changes and the band project maybe a little easily. I may be nitpicking with that one, but I felt that way. The only other minor gripe is how Dewey is shown as being a little dim which seems to be an all too common stereotype with characters who like hard rock in movies.
4 out of 5
Final Word
It's a good fun film that manages to be respectful to the music and some comedies are not that way. Overall good performances and I think it's a film that may get better with each viewing.
***Coming up Thursday is Almost Famous as Rock Movies week continues.
Guitarist Dewey (Black) gets kicked out of his band and needs rent money. He receives a call from a school asking for his roommate to come and substitute at a private school. Dewey decides to imitate his roomie Ned and takes the job. He then tries to use the class as his band for an upcoming Battle of the bands contest.
Cast
Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White and Sarah Silverman
The Good
I am not always a fan of Jack Black, but he made this film work with a very strong comedic performance. Joan Cusack was very good as well and she is too often underused in some films. The soundtrack was great. The kids were overall good, I was apprehensive about them at first but they did well for the most part. The ending because the main characters don't always have to win for things to work out right.
The Bad
Like most films with a lot of kids, it was a little sappy. The kids took to the changes and the band project maybe a little easily. I may be nitpicking with that one, but I felt that way. The only other minor gripe is how Dewey is shown as being a little dim which seems to be an all too common stereotype with characters who like hard rock in movies.
4 out of 5
Final Word
It's a good fun film that manages to be respectful to the music and some comedies are not that way. Overall good performances and I think it's a film that may get better with each viewing.
***Coming up Thursday is Almost Famous as Rock Movies week continues.
posted by Metal Mark at
12:38 AM
9 Comments:
I always love movies like this...true escapism for me. This one made me laugh, so that gets thumbs up in my book.
I think this is a great movie. I could watch it a million times. Jack was hilarious, Joan Cusack is very funny, and the kids weren't too sappy to me.
Mostly, I thought it was a cool way to have rock introduced to young people who are bombarded with lame crap that's played now.
I'm sorry, but I'd rather stick a hot poker in my eye than watch Jack Black. I've seen politicians that were funnier than him.
Curare Z-It was better than I thought it would be.
Onmywatch-I could watch this one fairly often.
Bruce-You just described how I feel about Adam Sandler.
I loved this movie! The references he made to bands just cracked me up and it was so fun to see kids dig the music.
I could watch this over and over.
I liked this movie. Did you see Rock School? It's a documentary about the real Rock School in philly. School of Rock was based on it.
It ranks right up there with Shallow Hal as Jack Black's best performance. He is pretty hit and miss though.
Fred-I have not seen Rock School.
Fuzz-I agree that Black is hit and miss.
I'm with you guys on Jack Black. I can take him and leave him most times. I think Orange County and this movie are his best. This film is just a simple little gem that has some heart that you don't see in many of Black's movies, though I think was particularly outstanding in the new King Kong as well.
Yeah, School of Rock is sappy but that's what it set out to be, nothing more. It's like the music finale at the end of Revenge of the Nerds; you know this is kind of dorky and predictible but it's fun!
I need to see Rock School because I was sent the CD promo to review and I thought most of the kids did a slam-bang job.
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