Comedy's back in Black.

Rating: 8/10 (20 October 2005)

So, this modern fairy-tale is one hell of a ride through the best of rock music mixed with a type of humor it had never experienced before. Well, the basic plot is as adorable as it can be. A down-and-out rocker takes a job of a substitute teacher at a private school and forms his own rock band with his fifth grade students by influencing them from classical music to rock. This excellent story is backed by smart and really funny screenplay (there are some brilliant bits e.g. "Pig Rectum?") and passionate direction by Linklater. But what makes it really great is no-one but Jack Black and also, the supporting cast.
Jack Black is a good comedy actor. We all knew about that. But he's also a guy who has real passion for rock and himself a good musician too. So in this film his performance is not only exceptional, it's perhaps inspirational to all the child actors present. Besides his trademark facial expressions and accent, his stage persona that we see in this film is also something that makes this film really entertaining. Joan Cusack delivers also another brilliant performance as the school's tough principal yet a secret Fleetwood Mac fan. All the kids in this film gave their best efforts when it comes to acting and really, as musicians some of them are indeed jaw-dropping, especially Joey Gaydos as the lead guitarist and Kevin Clark as the drummer with a 'bad boy' image. You might want to follow their music career as well.
As I mentioned earlier that this film is like a fairy-tale, one should not give too much thoughts about reality. Indeed some things may appear impossible, like Freddie learning drums in, well, the speed of light. The primary objective of the film is top quality entertainment. And it never fails in that, with great performances, truly funny dialogues, smart characters and yes, excellent soundtrack. Indeed, it provides the most fun I've had watching movies in a while.