Having done
everything from romantic dramas to science-fiction thrillers, Richard Linklater
can’t be accused of only doing one type of movie. However his love of rock
music was evident in Dazed and Confused
so he was the perfect guy to harness the manic energy of real-life rocker Jack
Black for School Of Rock (2003). Written
by Mike White, who also worked on the criminally overlooked TV show Freaks and Geeks, this rock’n’roll
comedy has the old concept of the teacher who bonds with his students, except
this teacher’s curriculum focuses on the historical importance of everyone from
The Who to Led Zeppelin. I wish I could have signed up for this class.
A couple of
things about this movie: It came out in October of 2003, a few months after I
had moved back to Quebec after having lived in South America for several years That
was when I realized most movies in Quebec come out dubbed in French, which I
hate because I want to hear the original actors speak no matter the language. Instead
I rented the DVD; full of behind-the-scenes goodness such as the debate as to
whether or not they should call it School
Of Rock or The School Of Rock. I
don’t own a copy of the movie, but soon after I got the CD for the awesome
soundtrack and eventually started getting the albums of classic rock bands
featured in the film such as The Who, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin. Those kids
weren’t the only ones to get a musical education.
Black’s
character, would-be rocker Dewey Finn, is the last person you would expect to
teach at a prestigious prep school. All he wants to do is rock, but his band
kicks him out because of his on-stage antics. Vowing to form his own band,
Dewey’s plans are seriously thwarted when his roommate Ned (Mike White) is pressured
by his girlfriend (Sarah Silverman in a thankless role) to have him evicted
because Dewey is behind on the rent. With no job and no money, Dewey finds a
temporary solution when he takes a phone call intended for Ned about a substitute
teacher job at Horace Green School. Pretending to be Ned, Dewey tricks
principal Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack) into giving him the job.
It’s a pretty
lazy ploy and Dewey seems aware of it. He knows he will get caught eventually,
but until then he will get paid so he just tells the kids that from now on it’s
free time all the time. That is until he hears them playing in music class and
realizes that in addition to a solution to his money problem he may have found
a solution to his rock band problem. New class project: forget math or science,
these kids are now going to be practicing every day to play in an upcoming
battle of the bands. When the students tell Dewey their favourite artists are
Christina Aguilera and Puff Daddy, he is horrified and also begins to teach
them the history of rock’n’roll. Well, at least they are learning something.
The film is of
course very predictable. The uptight principal Mullins will loosen up once she
hears some Stevie Knicks playing on a jukebox, some very upset parents will
eventually catch Dewey, and there will be a big performance by the students
rocking out at the battle of the bands. The film gets away with it thanks to
Black’s energy when he is teaching the ins and outs of rock and when he is
performing on stage with the kids, who are also hugely talented. In addition to
a grand performance of the title song School
Of Rock they also do an awesome cover of AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top.
This may not be
the most original high school movie ever made, but it is a lot of fun, it’s a rocking’
good time, and it features an awesome soundtrack. Long live rock.
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