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School
of Rock
Opens Dec 31 Starring: Directed by: Rocking good time By Ronald Wan · UrbanWire
School of Rock hits the right notes with frenzied acting personified by Jack Black and a hilarious script by Mike White, proving once again that rock has never died. It puts the fun back in rock and captures the hearts of both the young and old school without being too cheesy or sentimental. Jack Black (who is really the front man of folk-metal band Tenacious D) is this bundle of nerves and energy with an incessant supply of comedic zeal and rage. He reminds of Jim Carrey in his Ace Ventura heydays - a similar raw edge but without the slapstick expressions. Black plays Dewey Finn, an electric guitarist who breathes and lives rock music to the point of throwing himself at an unappreciative crowd from the stage and landing on the floor instead. Finn is also a loser, booted by his band members and humiliated by his roommate's girlfriend for not paying the rent. Desperate for money to make ends meet, he pretends to be his roommate, Ned Schneebly (Mike White, who is also the scriptwriter), when he accepts a job offer from the prestigious Horace Green prep school for the job of substitute teacher, which is when the fun begins. He sleeps on the job and gives recess to the children whenever possible. But, that changes pretty soon when he sees his class playing beautiful classical music and he is inspired to turn them into a rock band instead. Evidently, you can take the rocker of the rock world but not the rock out of the rocker. Finn gives lessons on the history of rock music and feeds the class on a musical diet of Led Zeppelin, The Ramones and Black Sabbath. He assigns every student a role from singers to stage crew to stylist. He even selected some girls as groupies and calls it a "class project". And then, he enters the class into the Battle of the Bands competition. The kids themselves are a funny bunch to watch. There's Summer (Miranda Cosgrove), the class's smarty-pants doubling as band manager, Lawrence (Robert Tsai) the stiff keyboardist and Zack (Joey Gaydos) the lead guitarist with low self-esteem. Drummer Kevin (Kevin Clark) is dashing and singer Tomiko (Maryam Hassan) packs a powerful Aretha Franklin voice. And there's the effeminate stylist Billy (Brian Falduto) who designs over-the-top costumes for the band.
Joan Cusack completes the entertaining ensemble as preppy principal Rosalie Mullins who hides a wild side and once danced to Stevie Nicks on top of a bar table. Pity Cusack didn't dance in the movie though. Still, this is a rocking good show directed by indie director Richard Linklater of Dazed and Confused who allows the character room for development while he still pays enough attention to the script. Similarly, he portrays Black as an unconventional hero who is ostensibly flawed, but still very likeable. Expect a rousing finale when the band performs at the competition and from there, you can decipher that the entire movie doesn't belong to Black alone because the kids are equally amazing. But kudos to Jack Black's performance as it distinctly personifies rock music - loud, erratic, flamboyant, eccentric and that rock is…very much alive. Rating: |
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