Let's get rocked

Rating: 6/10 (12 June 2017)

Dewey Finn: Dude, I service society by rocking, OK? I'm out there on the front lines liberating people with my music! "We don't need no education." School of Rock has been another go to movie for me for the last 7 or 8 years. For me, this is an easy winner because I am a Jack Black fan and because I love the music their playing. Black is a musician that can hold his own and the kids in the movie are great at their respected instrument. The film is funny, well-written by Mike White, and directed with surprising style by Richard Linklater. Like I said, Black is in the lead and he gives probably the best comedic performance of his life as Dewey Finn. School of Rock follows the misadventures of Dewey. He's a loser who is trying to make it big in the music industry. His band plays small bars and he lives with a friend and his friends girlfriend, mooching of them for rent. Dewey's friend at the request of his girlfriend tells him if he doesn't come up with rent, they are going to kick him out. More bad news comes in the form of Dewey getting kicked out of his band. He tries to rebound with a new band, but finding people isn't easy. When he takes a substitute teaching job, posing as his friend teacher, he meets a group of kids that can rock, and tries to use them to win the Battle of the Bands. This is a different type of movie for Linklater. I guess if you examine his film career, this would tie in most closely with Bad News Bears; except that School of Rock is much, much better. It also rings with great music much like his comedic stoner masterpiece Dazed and Confused did. School of Rock is just plain fun. It's hard not to have a good time watching Jack Black totally embrace a role like this. This is the Jack Black character. He is at his best when he plays himself, and Dewey Finn is just less profane Jack Black from Tenacious D. So seeing him here is just as much fun as watching him in Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. A great, family friendly, music comedy from a great director and a cast of good musicians. The songs are catchy, the jokes funny, and the story clever. Yeah, it follows a pretty basic formula for its success, but you can't sent the luring power of the pit stops White take with his writing. The lessons in class, the lunchroom conversations, and just letting Black perform.