SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003)
Paramount Pictures

By Désirée I. Guzzetta

School of Rock is a charming fable that should firmly establish Jack Black as a lead actor capable of carrying a film without a lot of gimmickry (see Shallow Hal). Black stars as Dewey Finn, a guitarist in a painfully bad rock band trying to make it to the big time. One day, he shows up to rehearsal only to find that he's been replaced. It's a stinging rebuke of his skills, made even worse by the fact that he's one the who founded the band.

Dewey, hampered in adulthood by his adolescent mindset, lives with his childhood friend, dweeby substitute teacher Ned Schneebly (Mike White, who also wrote the film), and Ned's high-maintenance girlfriend, Patty (Sarah Silverman, appropriately annoying). At Patty's insistence, the weak-willed Ned orders Dewey to get a job or get out of the house. As luck would have it, a prestigious school needs a substitute right away, so Dewey pretends to be Ned and takes the position.

At first, Dewey's at a loss as to what to do with his class full of bright young charges, including the bossy Summer (Miranda Cosgrove), the quiet Zack (Joey Gaydos Jr.) and the rebellious Freddy (Kevin Clark). But after hearing the kids practicing during their music class, Dewey hatches a plot to assemble them into a kickin' rock band. He's also got to pull this off while under the watchful eye of uptight principal Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack). Wacky hijinks ensue.

As a friend said after the film was over, "It's about time Hollywood made a good formula film." School of Rock may be formulaic, but in this case, that's not a bad thing, given the obvious exuberance that went into making it. I was afraid the film wasn't going to live up to the hype I'd heard about it, but my fears were unfounded--it's very funny and a joy to watch.

Black's Dewey is an appealing protagonist whose rough edges actually enhance his likeability, and he and Cusack have a friendly chemistry that is endearing. He also works well with the assortment of kids in his class. White is also fine as the indecisive Ned, and director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) shows he's as comfortable directing a mainstream flick as he is with more off-beat material (see Slacker).

A special shout-out must go to the casting director, Ilene Starger, for her exemplary skills in picking out a group of charismatic, talented child thespians who come across as natural and believable. In addition to Gaydos Jr., Cosgrove, and Clark, Robert Tsai's Lawrence and Maryam Hassan's Tomika are among the stand-outs of Dewey's rock class. These kids act like kids, not like miniature adults, a refreshing change from the usual precocious brats Hollywood generally shoves in our faces.

Go get a lesson in what good comedy is by seeing School of Rock. You won't be sorry.

More info: http://www.schoolofrockmovie.com/

Paramount Pictures
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriter: Mike White
Starring: Jack Black (Dewey Finn), Mike White (Ned Schneebly), Joan Cusack (Rosalie Mullins), Sarah Silverman (Patty DiMarco), and a whole bunch of very talented kids
Running Time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rated: PG-13

© 2002-08 Brenda Cowan & Désirée Guzzetta/Two Lazy Critics^TM. All Rights Reserved. May Not Be Reprinted Without Permission.
Two Lazy Critics^TM. Logo Designed by Tammy Ferranti. Website Designed by Amanda Paulette and maintained by the Two Lazy Critics^TM.
To report broken links or for general site information, translate the following into the proper form (look at how the site name is spelled out) and put it in your favorite e-mail client: info AT 2 La-zee Critics DOT com.
The Two Lazy Critics^TM brought to you by four not-so-lazy parental units.

All images (specifically, "official movie site" images, album covers, etc.) included on our site are used as allowed via copyright laws in accordance with the U.S. Copyright Office's "fair use" ruling for use of images in critiquing and reviewing and are copyright of their respective studios and/or companies and all that good legal stuff. Any images used that don't fall into the above categories are copyright of the respective people who took them and gave us permission to put the images on our site.