School of Rock

Dewey Finn is a lazy freeloader and a guitarist in a rock band who plays gigs every night and sleeps every day, in his friend Ned Schneebly's apartment. One day as he shows up late for band practice he notices a new guitar player who is replacing him. Poor Dewey feels so bad about it and also about Ned and his girlfriend threatening to kick him out since he doesn't pay any of the bills. After a few days of trying to sell his guitars, which doesn't go very well, the head of a school calls and asks for Ned Schneebly, who is a talented substitute teacher with a good reputation. In a desperate attempt to getting money fast, Dewey impersonates Ned and conveniently finds himself the teacher of a third grade ( or something like that ) class for several weeks ahead. Yet another one of his crazy ideas strikes him and his plan to turn his class into a rockband to win the Battle of the Bands competition is set in motion.

School Of Rock is a great feel-good comedy, fun for just about anyone of any age, kids or adults. Jack Black does carry a lot of this film on his own but I won't be too harsh on the kids in the movie, they did very well also. If anyone else should play Dewey Finn rather than Jack, it just wouldn't be the same. Since Jack is actually in a rock band in real life, and has played a few characters in films before who are also into music, he just seemed to fit right into this film. His real passion for rock music helps a lot in this film, and makes Dewey Finn one hell of a good character. The plot to this film is really good I think and Mike White did a great job on the screenplay. As did Linklater on the direction of the film.

This comedy should not be ignored just because there are kids in it, I enjoyed it a hell of a lot and you probably will too.

9/10

A quick glance at the story or trailer tells you that School of Rock is probably the cheesiest, gratuitous, airhead excuse for a movie in ages, but if you thought that was a good reason to avoid it you'd be wrong. Jack Black plays the slightly past it rocker, stuck in a groove of 70s heavy metal rock and roll and refusing to move on – until his (more up to date) band fire him. Struggling to pay the rent, he takes a phone call intended for his schoolteacher flatmate and accepts a job as supply teacher at a top school. Soon he has the kids not only studying the history of rock and roll, soundproofing the room and playing rock instruments, but actually competing in a major ‘Battle of the Bands' competition.

Unbelievable? Yes. What's more unbelievable is that somehow the whole thing works – Jack Black's over-the-top enthusiasm for his subject is contagious, the edge-of-disaster suspense is continued throughout the length of the movie, and by the end the audience is so desperate to see how the kids (who they all play their own instruments by the way) perform in the concert that seat wetting would probably go unnoticed. Joan Cusack, as the gobsmacked headmistress, delivers a performance that is worth the price of your cinema ticket in itself. Achieving such tears-down-the cheeks laughter and adrenalin-packed excitement for air guitar music is nothing short of miraculous.

School of Rock is a movie that promises entertainment and delivers. Everything is as it says on the packet. For sheer feelgood factor, this movie is unbeatable – and you can even take the kids!

Glancing at what other people have written about this movie, it seems that these individuals are taking this film a bit too seriously. Worrying about the "messages" this movie is delivering? Come on, there is no way that the con that Jack Black's character pulls off could ever get far in the real world! I don't think any sane person watching this movie would take this seriously. This is a comedy, for crying out loud, made to make us laugh!

I thought Black was fine in this movie. Sure, maybe his character is a little one-note with his proclamations of "rock on" and "stick it to the man", but Black somehow manages to do it over and over without being boring. He's unbelievably energetic AND versatile, delivering these same things in different ways each time that prevent the movie from getting into a rut. I think it's safe to say that only Black himself could have made this role work so well.

There is plenty of humor and great music. Even my senior citizen parents kept laughing, and told me after it was over that they enjoyed the rock soundtrack as well. It's a great movie for the whole family. Why was this rated PG-13? Sure, there are some references to stuff like alcohol and groupies, but they are not emphasized at all in their brief passing - and your kids will already have seen these kind of things treated much worse elsewhere! In fact, here in British Columbia, the ratings board gave it a "G" rating.

The perfect vehicle for Jack Black, a film to show that given the right material he's a bona fide comedic actor of some worth. Plot has Black as Dewey Finn, a wastrel musician who has no job prospects and who spends his time mooching off of his best mate Ned Sheebly (Mike White). When Dewey is fired from his rock band he's left in limbo and in danger of being homeless. But when he answers a phone call offering Ned a job assignment, Dewey decides to take it upon himself to impersonate Ned and take the employment himself; as a schoolteacher!

So it's Jack Black in a classroom full of kids, it probably shouldn't work, and even might seem like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment to anyone with an aversion to Black, but this is feel good nirvana and a paean to rock and roll. It's perhaps unsurprising that it's crammed with clichés from the classroom splinter of moviedom, the kids a roll call of characters we have seen numerous times. The spoilt swot, the roughneck, the one suffering parental peer pressure, the weight issue one and on it goes, but boy can they play music when Dewey takes them out of classical mode and into rock central.

How nice to find that director Richard Linklater and writer Mike White have managed to rise above the clichés and avoid syrupy fodder, there's such a zest and earnestness to it all, and the kids acting is high in quality as well, led by the big kid himself, Black on full tilt. But most of all, even as the morals and life affirming threads come wading in with the pulsing rock soundtrack, it's a very funny picture, the gag quota enormously high. Be it Black trying to bluff the kids, the kids trying to bluff everyone else - or the wonderful Joan Cusack as the scatty stickler for the rules Principal Mullins – a laugh is never far away. Rock on! 8.5/10

Wow; cannot believe it took me twenty years to finally watch this awesome movie, but I finally made it to the party. And, surprise... It rocked!

I love Jack Black and this movie was clearly MADE for him. His joy and passion and humor was infectious. I smiled the entire time of watching this movie. He had fantastic chemistry with all of the kids as well! Not everyone could pull off that role, but JB nails it and then some.

A few moments that could've been done a bit better in my opinion that stuck out to me, but nothing that can truly derail the joy of the ride!

I can't wait to revisit this one over and over now that I've finally gotten to it.