it's got kids, it's got rock and roll, and it's got Jack Black, and it works

Rating: 7/10 (15 March 2006)

I wouldn't put The School of Rock into a pantheon of great, artistic cinema lists, but then again the subject matter itself defies that possibility. Fact is, like the film Airheads (only this film is a little more convincing in its 'logic'), School of Rock is like that fresh treat of a comedy that I wish in some ways I saw as kid, as I know I would've been even more amazed at its silliness but also its true enthusiasm for rock music, GOOD rock music I might add. It's not just that it has director Richard Linklater- who also laid down his film Dazed and Confused with the same good solid hard rock and roll pathos- giving the film some needed push into the right direction (through Mike White's clever script), but also because he lets the reins off just enough on Jack Black. He is an actor with such a distinctive personality he either elicits his avid admirers (some through Tenacious D), or adamant boo's. But even those who usually aren't Black fans tend to gravitate to this film- it contains some of his wackiness and over-the-top zeal, but it also has him giving a good performance, like in his breakthrough in High Fidelity.
And Linklater, as with Black, is testing different ground here- working with kids. This is so tricky that it's very hard to explain it to some; having multiple children characters in a film can be OK if you're doing something typical like a 'keeping-hope-alive-in-a-school melodrama'. This time though there has to be enough personality to contend- and play off on- Black. It's here where there's some very good ground laid out; Black's character is meant to go through some sort of transformation through working with these kids, obviously through just being himself (and not through some incredible higher cause like in more self-conscious films), while still having fun. Most of the kids are given enough back-story to not be just cardboard cut-outs, and I liked that they took their roles with equal sincerity and coolness. They're are even a few laughs that come from scenes where the kids bring out some of their own 'wit' against Black.
But then it comes down though to two things in recommending this film- do you find Jack Black funny, or at least entertaining to an extent, and do you like him rocking out like a 70's party animal? There are some of the obligatory obvious scenes early on in the film, mostly as set-up, as he gets kicked out of his band, leading him to secretly take a substituting job with the kids at the school. And some little scenes of minor characters ironically don't work as well as the ones with the children, like the 'Edge of Seventeen' scene at the bar with Joan Cusack. And maybe being more of a casual observer of Black's work over the years seeing his work in a film like this once is enough for a while (I actually haven't seen the film in some many months, though fresh in my mind). But ultimately the film works as a mix of tongue-in-cheek with, what one critic compared to slightly Dead Poets Society touch of teacher-pupils storytelling, where even if you're not rolling in your seat with laughs you're probably grinning most of the way...and as one who is still heavily into the kind of rock that is played by the (talented) kids in the film, I can't help but feel some glee that songs by the Doors and Led Zeppelin get such prominence in a major studio film at a time when good rock music is getting harder to find in them. B+