Jack Black is a Golden God

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2003)

Get ready for one of the most biased reviews you'll read today. Because I gotta be honest with you: I love Jack Black. You hear me Jack? I love you. Jack Black is not only one of the most talented entertainers in the world today, but he seems to be one of tomorrow's finest comedic acting stars. He carries with him a seemingly inexhaustible supply of physical comedy mixed with precision comic timing. His style, while one dimensional and unchanged since High Fidelity and even The Cable Guy (that's right, even while playing a very minor character, he still commanded a hilarious screen presence) will never get old, even if he plays essentially the same character in every film.
School of Rock was a field day for Black. It's obvious in every frame that he had as much fun shooting this movie as we did watching it. Director Richard Linklater (responsible for the classic Dazed and Confused and the enigmatic Waking Life) probably had one of the easiest tasks in the world directing Jack Black as a rock-obsessed Dewey Finn who spends the whole movie rocking out and then rocking out some more. Dewey is kicked out of his band and needs money for the rent. Why not pose as his roommate who got a request to do some substitute teaching? And while he's there sitting out of his element in a room full of schoolchildren, why not train them to rock out with him? Ridiculous, right? Correct!
And I wouldn't have it any other way. This movie plays out like a long episode of the short lived HBO series, Tenacious D. With no rhyme or reason, Dewey invades these kids' sterile worlds and lights the fever of rock and roll within them. And when he gets them to help him win the battle of the bands, he will be able to pay the rent and stick it to his old band all in one fell swoop. From a structural point of view, this movie is nothing to get excited about. It has the classic `oh no, the whole plan is gonna fall apart' moments, followed by the happy and rockin' conclusion. Nothing in the plot itself suggests anything of originality. But when you consider that the topic is rock (which would be my second major bias), and the teacher is rock legend Jack Black lecturing our faces off on the ways of rock, it makes for nothing but a good time.
And that's exactly what School of Rock is. It's a classic feel good movie that makes for a great time at the theatre. Don't get me wrong: if you happen to hate Jack Black, you're probably not going to enjoy this movie. Because I can't stress this enough: it is chock full of him. Not just the fact that he's the lead actor, but every scene reeks of classic JB form, complete with all the usual flourishes that his performances pack. He takes a standard theme-the struggle to succeed in a mission-and makes it a work of art. And I say 'he' as if he were the writer, director, and producer. Well at times it felt as if there couldn't have possibly been anybody else involved in the making of this movie except JB himself and a dozen goofy kids. And if that doesn't get you excited to see School of Rock, then you better go back to listening to your Admiral Levigne album.