Dewey Finn may not be the God of Rock but he just f****** rocks trying!

Rating: 9/10 (25 July 2009)

Richard Linklater couldn't use, back in 1993, Led Zeppelin's classic, and totally mind blowing, tune for his film Dazed and Confused (still a great soundtrack certainly, and if Wikipedia is to be believed "while Jimmy Page agreed Robert Plant refused") but here in this Linklater film, The School of Rock, we have not only a Zeppelin classic (I just saw for the very first time the video with Jack Black that was sent to Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones! Lords of Rock Led Zeppelin!!!) but also classics by such great bands like the Doors, the Who, Cream, Deep Purple, the Ramones, AC/DC, etc. The School of Rock, written by Mike White (who also plays a not that minor character. He is all right but certainly he ain't a really good actor), is certainly Jack Black's show, and is like a for hire film for Linklater in the vein of his 2005 Bad News Bears (a remake of the 1976 The Bad News Bears, which I haven't seen) however comparing one film with the other, I mean The School of Rock and Bad News Bears, I can say there's a really notable difference, The School of Rock is a fast-paced, hilarious and highly re-watchable Hollywood entertainment, you can forgive its typical elements, that is predictable and stuff.
And as I think you already know Tenacious D member Jack Black is Dewey Finn, and like Jack Black himself the main character (Dewey Finn) of this film may not be the God of Rock but for sure he is a good guitar player, yet basically at the very beginning of the film each time Black scores by making us laugh Dewey Finn is one step closer to stop being part of the rock band No Vacancy, one step closer to be basically broke and without the dream of rock 'n' roll. However at one point we are going to enjoy part of a classic by Cream (I doubt that a rock fan doesn't get at least a little excited when the riff of "Sunshine of Your Love" begins), is like the rebirth of Dewey (though at that point Dewey is known at his workplace as Ned Schneebly) after finding a new hope in order to fight in the upcoming battle of the bands. It will be kids hearing for the very first time about the Doors, Hendrix, etc., hell it would have been really cool to have checking out the vocal solo from Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" instead of some math problems as homework or having as a class the history of rock instead of history of the world, don't you think? And this thing (Dewey not only pretends to be his best friend Ned Schneebly, who is a substitute teacher, but also will use "his" students for the battle of bands by telling them is a secret school project) certainly will bring troubles, of course eventually everybody will know the truth about Dewey and of course the kids will stay with their rock teacher. And is like you have to do what the principal (Joan Cusack is terrific. "Well I went today, maybe I will go again... tomorrow!") and the parents of the kids will do, sort of: for once forget about everything else and just enjoy the show, enjoy the hilarious show of Jack Black, enjoy the show of the talented kids, enjoy this Linklater film!