School Of Rock

Year: 2003

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Linklater

Review

this is probably the last thing i would have expected from richard linklater as a follow-up to “waking life”. the role had to have been written for jack black – he’s absolutely perfect for it considering his musical background and his brand of humor. even the kids in the movie do a good job – they’re cast well and the roles are well-written enough to give each one his/her own character. the setting is perfect – the uptight kids in the private school contrasting with the exuberance and wild ways of jack black who reveals rock music as the great liberator from the rules of “the man.” joan cusack does a great job as the uptight principal who’s waiting to be liberated. it’s hard to end a comedy. a lot of times that’s when the serious stuff needs to be resolved or sometimes screenwriters write themselves into a corner to suit the comedy and the plot suffers. as a result the endings of comedies have a tendency to be anti-climatic, uncharacteristically uncomedic, or half-baked. dr. strangelove is the best ending to a comedy i can think of because everything that preceded it led up to that ending and it managed to stay funny to the last second. school of rock suffers a bit from the usual ending-syndrome that comedies have, but rebounds during the credits….a technique that meet the parents also employed – showing outtakes to get the laughs flowing again. in school of rock it’s an extended jam session with jack black and the kids that works well to cap off the film. 80 million bucks in the box office is pretty good, but i would have expected more since jack black is hot and since it’s a family friendly film. at any rate, it’s probably the best linklater film to date revenue-wise which means he may continue to get funded for his more serious efforts, like waking life; and that’s a good thing. overall, a well-done movie with plenty of laughs.