Hey folks, Harry here - The first word on Richard Linklater's very commericial endeavor... THE SCHOOL OF ROCK. What is it? Well, apparently it is very funny... It seems extremely mainstream and not at all like Linklater's previous triumphs. But it is apparently hilarious, and well if Rick needs to make this in order to make a great, more obscure, less mainstream film... Then I'm all for it. I just wish that Rick had access to a never-ending supply of money to just make whatever the hell he wants, cuz I believe he's one of the best filmmakers we have working today... That double-whammy of WAKING LIFE and TAPE... whew, great stuff. Here ya go...
What's going on, dude.
Tonight, the Paramus Cineplex Odeon tenplex played host to "one of the first" screenings of the upcoming Jack Black vehicle The School of Rock. Believe me, it IS a Jack Black vehicle - so said the talking head prior to the film, "This movie is completely centered around him and its performance will probably be the gauge on whether Jack can be a "viable" leading man. Shallow Hal, with Gwyneth Paltrow getting top billing on posters and such, doesn't count." So there. Written by Mike White, directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Jack Black. The lineup's probably some movie geeks' idea of cinematic nirvana.
Good news? It's hilarious.
Bad news? It'll probably get swallowed alive upon release.
Plot goes like this: Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a wild-eyed, wild-haired, very bearded and VERY exuberant guitarist for No Vacancy. The movie kicks off with one of their performances, and it's no surprise when the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil! lead singer of the group boots him in the next scene. Needing rent money so his roommate and substitute teacher Ned (Mike White) can placate his bitchy girlfriend (I seriously don't think she even had a name), Dewey's lost. Hope arrives in the form of "temping" - what Dewey calls substitute teaching. The next day (the events of the movie had to take place in something like two weeks) Dewey gets a call from Horace Green Prepatory principal Roz Mullins (Joan Cusack). A 4th-grade class needs a sub for a few weeks, and the pay's $650 a week. So Dewey decides to be his pal Ned, which means a shave of the beard, side part of hair down to his shoulders, and a weird red scarf for Horace Green Prep. His first day consists of sending all the kids to recess and screaming at a girl named Summer, who's the class geek. There's a Battle of the Bands worth $200,000, and in order to compete Dewey needs a band. No cookies for who makes up his band or what the band name is. In order to not ruin the movie, I can only offer my highest recommendation without repeating the multitude of quite funny jokes and songs the film offers. The unique energy of Jack Black combined with a nothing's-sacred (a magenta-loving ten-year-old who demands to be the band's "stylist" is exemplary) screenplay by Mike White makes The School of Rock a movie everyone should see when it gets released.
The problems? The ending, for one. It just...happens. The Battle of the Bands, of course, and then...nothing. End scene of the kids jamming with Jack as he screams about...various end credits (I'm really trying not to ruin this). It's another really funny scene, but it just ends. A brief romantic subplot between Jack and Joan Cusack is promising and goes nowhere. By the way, Joan Cusack? Totally wasted. Whenever the movie's away from Jack and the kids, The School of Rock suffers.
Away from the movie and onto the ad department. As I said above, The School of Rock is going to be a very tricky movie to market correctly by Paramount. If they pull it off, I can see this little comedy making some serious money and launching Jack Black's career to new levels. If they don't, the trailer and TV spots will cause it to bomb via focusing on "look at these kids...and they're singing...and playing instruments!" The proper way would focus entirely on Jack Black. Something that works in its favor would be that no trailer or TV spot imaginable could possibly give away all the funny jokes in The School of Rock. Every single scene has something hilarious in it.
Summing it all up, Linklater has gone mainstream, folks. That said, The School of Rock should seriously be his first mainstream hit, and a very big one at that. See it.
Oh yeah. When a friend and I got the flyers a few days ago, the guy said "it's the Tenacious D movie." It isn't. Kyle Gass doesn't even have a cameo. And if Paramount wants to market it as that, the movie's going to bomb and bomb HARD because there'll be a ton of disappointed people out there. Disappointed people equals bad word of mouth, and this movie isn't going to sustain it a la The Matrix Reloaded. At the end of the day, The School of Rock deserves your $7.50.
Later.
RJS
Next is a review from Shy - which is... well a strange review. It is either evidence of Shy's frontal lobotomy, pot usage or lack thereof. You'll see what I mean if you read...
The highlight of “School of Rock” was the free soda and popcorn beforehand, especially the syrup to seltzer ratio in my Sprite.
This is not to say that it was a bad movie. As I wrote on my survey that was part of the deal in order to see a free movie, I couldn’t tell them what were the good parts or the bad parts because I didn’t retain too much, which was sad because the concept had potential. In a nutshell, take one part “Dead Poet’s Society” (the happy, goofy, pre-suicide part) and three parts “Daddy Day Care”, and a few frames of that band performance scene form “Revenge of the Nerds”, and there you have it.
“School of Rock” deals with this stereotypical “brink of failure” musician named Dewey (Jack Black) who lies his way into a part time job as a substitute teacher at the best school in the state (the state was never referred to, I’m presuming it was “Atrophy”) where he’s saddled with clichéd students that make the characterizations on “Head of the Class” look inspired. Realizing that a good number of them have musical aptitude, he forms them into a band (under the false guise of them competing for some state school contest) in order to enter a “Battle of the Bands” contest and win Dewey $20,000. In the process, life lessons are learned and everything turns out pretty much the way you think it will when you see movies like this, except one thing, but it isn’t the most earth-shattering of surprises. In fact, forget I said anything, things turn out pretty much you think they will.
Joan Cusack plays the (clichéd mousy) principal of the school, and I have to wonder why. All through the movie, you’re waiting for something to happen that justifies casting a two time Academy Award nominee in the part, and while something potentially humorous is hinted at, it doesn’t happen. I got to hope that there’s a whole other reel or two of stuff they’re putting into this movie, and a whole other reel of stuff they’re prepared to take out, and they’re just playing with the formula to see what works.
Jack Black makes me miss John Belushi. What’s ironic is that the character of Dewey never seems to stop talking about not selling out to “the man”, yet I can’t recall seeing a movie recently so concocted to make a buck.
On the plus side, the kids are alright (hey, it’s “School of Rock”, I can get away with that), seeing as the script seems to have been put together by a committee of TV sitcom writers (presumably a committee of chimps weren’t available). One child, with, shall we say “flamboyant” tendencies, was as big of a stretch as things go.
This is the type of movie that will become a staple on cable, and will probably be on when you turn on the TV at a quarter to two while battling insomnia. You’ll watch the first half hour to forty-five minutes, doze off, and promise yourself the next morning that you’ll catch the rest of it the next time you’re up with insomnia at a quarter to two in the morning.
No names, please…I’m Shy.
