Fantastic film, Black hasn't reached heights like this since. top notch writing and deft direction keeps this buzzing along. Eminently quotable and about as good as young teenage entertainment gets.
Jack Black was basically born to play his character in School of Rock, a movie that turns the Dangerous Minds formula on its head by giving us a deadbeat teacher turning an elementary class full of overachievers into a rock band for his own purposes, and learning a lesson and vocation in the process. The kids are great and the movie has a lot of charm in spite of its formulaic structure, but it wouldn't work without good music, and happily, it delivers on that front. Director Richard Linklater can be trusted to assemble a good soundtrack, of course, but the songs written within the film are fun too, and the final performance well worth the wait. And like Sing Street, it does manage to give non-musicians a sense of how songs come together in band practice. A good double bill with Sing Street?
Great job by the casting team to find a group of kids that I didn't find annoying. There acting is, good enough I'd say. They were really playing those instruments and the backing singers were really singing, that's impressing! There are so many of them and they all get a decent amount of screen time, yet I never cringed or wanted to punch any of them in the face, which is my normal reaction with child actors, so good job kids!
My only problem with this movie is the first ten minutes when the movie does everything it can to make me dislike Black's character. The opening scene at the bar where he's just performing a bit over the top was okay with me because it was funny and you could tell he had a real passion for rock. The bigger problem was the scene where his flatmate is asking for rent and Black is asking him to dump his girlfriend just because she's rightfully asking him for the rent he's not paid in months.
Why does the girlfriend character even need to be in this? I'm sick and tired of these "stick in the mud" characters in movies that are played up as the antagonist, for just doing their job or asking for money that is rightfully their's.
I get why we root for a character like Black's. He's doing and saying all the things we wish we could do or say, but we know in the real world we'd never get away with it. But why does that have to come at the expense of an innocent bystander that just wants his share of the rent?
Here's how I would rewrite it: Have Black live in a small apartment on his own. Have the guy asking him for rent just be the owner of the building, and you just don't see him after that. Don't have Black bitching and moaning about someone asking for the rent that he should rightfully be paying. Then he goes round to Mike White's place and he tries to encourage to get back into rock music because he needs the money. Then White's girlfriend (who you never see in this version) rings him and he says he has to pick her up from work. While he's out the school calls and Black answers like he does in the actual movie.
Thankfully the flatmate and girlfriend are not in it very much. My guess is they were only written in because Mike White wanted to give himself a role in the film.
Outside of that, the film is great, Jack Black is entertaining as hell, the soundtrack is fantastic, and there are a lot of genuinely funny moments.
The only thing that I felt that was missing was a clearer arc for the kids. There is the hint at the start of an arc for Summer and Zack, but nothing really comes of it.
Just about everything in the storyline was a predictable cliché.... and yet I thought it was a very fun movie anyway! Something about the characters and their interactions made them all surprisingly likeable, and, I'm not a huge fan of Jack Black, but he was pretty darn funny, in an over-the-top kind of way.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 15 of 18
Jashezilla
One of the funnest films I've ever watched.TalkingElvish
Fantastic film, Black hasn't reached heights like this since. top notch writing and deft direction keeps this buzzing along. Eminently quotable and about as good as young teenage entertainment gets.roxannepena
All-time favorite movie. I’ve seen this 2938428394 times and it still cracks me up every time.maruf_ur
Yes! this is the coolest one.julex
One of the best rock movies everSiskoid
Jack Black was basically born to play his character in School of Rock, a movie that turns the Dangerous Minds formula on its head by giving us a deadbeat teacher turning an elementary class full of overachievers into a rock band for his own purposes, and learning a lesson and vocation in the process. The kids are great and the movie has a lot of charm in spite of its formulaic structure, but it wouldn't work without good music, and happily, it delivers on that front. Director Richard Linklater can be trusted to assemble a good soundtrack, of course, but the songs written within the film are fun too, and the final performance well worth the wait. And like Sing Street, it does manage to give non-musicians a sense of how songs come together in band practice. A good double bill with Sing Street?Samdurden
Lovely..Jack Black is the man
airi86ja
laughted so much,great one
kellyoung
Of course you can, Fancy Pants.Scratch47
NOW RAISE YOUR GOBLET TO ROCKbuc86
Great job by the casting team to find a group of kids that I didn't find annoying. There acting is, good enough I'd say. They were really playing those instruments and the backing singers were really singing, that's impressing! There are so many of them and they all get a decent amount of screen time, yet I never cringed or wanted to punch any of them in the face, which is my normal reaction with child actors, so good job kids!My only problem with this movie is the first ten minutes when the movie does everything it can to make me dislike Black's character. The opening scene at the bar where he's just performing a bit over the top was okay with me because it was funny and you could tell he had a real passion for rock. The bigger problem was the scene where his flatmate is asking for rent and Black is asking him to dump his girlfriend just because she's rightfully asking him for the rent he's not paid in months.
Why does the girlfriend character even need to be in this? I'm sick and tired of these "stick in the mud" characters in movies that are played up as the antagonist, for just doing their job or asking for money that is rightfully their's.
I get why we root for a character like Black's. He's doing and saying all the things we wish we could do or say, but we know in the real world we'd never get away with it. But why does that have to come at the expense of an innocent bystander that just wants his share of the rent?
Here's how I would rewrite it: Have Black live in a small apartment on his own. Have the guy asking him for rent just be the owner of the building, and you just don't see him after that. Don't have Black bitching and moaning about someone asking for the rent that he should rightfully be paying. Then he goes round to Mike White's place and he tries to encourage to get back into rock music because he needs the money. Then White's girlfriend (who you never see in this version) rings him and he says he has to pick her up from work. While he's out the school calls and Black answers like he does in the actual movie.
Thankfully the flatmate and girlfriend are not in it very much. My guess is they were only written in because Mike White wanted to give himself a role in the film.
Outside of that, the film is great, Jack Black is entertaining as hell, the soundtrack is fantastic, and there are a lot of genuinely funny moments.
The only thing that I felt that was missing was a clearer arc for the kids. There is the hint at the start of an arc for Summer and Zack, but nothing really comes of it.
Rasheru
Just about everything in the storyline was a predictable cliché.... and yet I thought it was a very fun movie anyway! Something about the characters and their interactions made them all surprisingly likeable, and, I'm not a huge fan of Jack Black, but he was pretty darn funny, in an over-the-top kind of way.Dieguito
A good movie. Different.mrm2541
Expected more from Linklater; this is very similar to MANY other films.Twaps
OK.Showing items 1 – 15 of 18