Pleasant but Does Not Live Up to Hype

Rating: 6/10 (11 April 2006)

"School of Rock" is a pleasant, somewhat funny, upbeat movie, but it doesn't live up to the rave reviews it received.
I love rock, and I even like movies in which an inspirational teacher changes a ragtag bunch of students for the better. I liked this movie; I just wish it had had tighter pacing, less Jack Black, and more laughs.
I don't have a problem with Jack Black being fat and outrageous. The problem is that Jack Black isn't fat and outrageous enough.
We have a long and hallowed tradition of fat, outrageous comic actors in this country, going back to Fatty Arbuckle and including John Belushi, John Candy, and Chris Farley. I worship at the throne of Belushi. From Samurai deli to killer bee, Belushi had some of the thinnest routines in history, but he made them come alive with just a twitch of his eyebrows.
Jack Black is no John Belushi. In fact, he strikes me as an uptight businessman in a fat loser's body. He doesn't have the earthiness, the inherent funniness, the weird sexuality, the musicality of a great, fat man comic actor.
He's okay here, just not you-laugh-just-to-see-him-on screen great.
Black is in just about every scene, and that gets a bit boring. The movie really takes off when some of the other cast members are allowed to shine, including Miranda Cosgrove as a very ambitious ten year old. In fact, every kid in the class/rock band is adorable, funny, and an interesting character; many are talented musicians. I wish "Tomika" had been given more on screen singing time.
One real joy here is Joan Cusack as a prep school's tightly wound principal. Cusack is pitch perfect and fully satisfying in a way that Black manages to be only intermittently. Cusack is intimidating and poignant, often at the same time ... and frequently the funniest thing on screen.
The movie doesn't make enough use of Cusack, and leaves her hanging, without an adequate resolution to her character's many dilemmas. That's a real lack in the plot. Cusack is so real, so endearing, and so funny, you really want to see more of her.
Sarah Silverman, in a supporting role, is *perfectly cast.* Silverman, as we discovered from her nasty little turn in "The Aristocrats," where she made a pathetic, attention-grabbing accusation against a show biz legend, is a nasty little woman. Casting her here as a malicious, destructive female was type casting. She really conveys the menace the role requires.
"School of Rock" is a sweet, upbeat movie that can give you some smiles and laughs, but it's the kind of movie I like to be doing some chore while watching; it's not a movie that requires your full attention.