Mr. Holland's Stupid Ending

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2002)

Spoilers for the ending of the movie are in this review. You have been warned.
There's a really great film about teaching music and how it inspires kids to new heights, which features a stellar performance from a top acting talent. It's called Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep-- a movie which is seriously underrated, but earns all of the sentiment which Mr. Holland's Opus just takes for granted.
But perhaps the thing which irritates me the most about Mr. Holland's Opus is the ending of the film, and I'm surprised that in the reviews I've read here no one else is irritated by this as well.
Mr. Holland has lost his job due to the school cutting funding arts programs. And they have a big party for him and we meet all his old students and lo and behold...gasp!...Gertrude the red-haired girl who didn't think she was talented that Mr. Holland showed her she could play the clarinet back in 1965 turns out to be the Governor.
Now, in the movie, they then play Mr. Holland's Opus--something which apparently Holland has been writing for over 30 years but which turns out to be a 3 and a half minute piece of new age pap-- and Richard Dreyfuss sees the wonderful effect he had on the students he had over the years and it's all heartwarming blah blah blah
But every damn time I see this movie I can't help but think that Holland should have slapped Gertrude repeatedly while screaming "You stupid little [expletive deleted]...the State you are Governor of is allowing arts programs to be cut from schools due to lack of funding! I should have never taught you clarinet, you moron! How dare you come here after I've lost my job because of your policies. Why don't you try raising taxes or diverting funding so we can teach kids, you little twerp!? What was the point of getting you to play the sunset when you don't do anything to GET MY JOB BACK!?! You think coming with your lousy clarinet is going to make anything better!?!"
Okay, maybe that's a little extreme. But the "heartwarming" ending is insipid, undeserved and completely and totally frustrating.