“School of Rock” stars Jack Black as Dewey Finn, a hell-raising guitarist with delusions of grandeur. Kicked out of his band and desperate for work, Dewey impersonates a substitute teacher and turns a class of fifth-grade high-achievers into high-voltage rock and rollers.
Richard Linklater rarely, if ever, steps wrong. He’s arguably one of America’s best/most underrated filmmakers. The man has tried his hand at almost every genre with aplomb, and with “School of Rock,” he created one of the best comedies ever. It is hard to believe that two decades have passed since the release of this low-key masterpiece, but nothing has come even close to matching this family-friendly musical or its bonafide anarchic spirit.
This is not a masterpiece in the same sense “Citizen Kane” or “Apocalypse Now” are considered masterpieces. It’s not heavy, does not have an agenda, and is not out to change the world or depict humanity’s existential crises. What it does accomplish is perhaps even more laudable: it makes you forget about life’s futility for 100 minutes and surrender to the palpable joy emanating from the screen. Linklater and co. are just out to have fun and, you know, rock! That lack of pretentiousness is precisely what makes “School of Rock” so phenomenal.
Unlike other films of its ilk, Linklater’s classic avoids any semblance of sap or sermonizing. Everything about its cover art screams “cheese”: a school teacher rocking out with a bunch of middle-schoolers. The film’s progression is so fluid it zips by, the jokes are genuinely funny, and the messages are genuinely incisive. Aside from Linklater’s inability to meddle in sentimentality, a great debt is owed to Black, who’s never been better. His schtick, which some find grating, fits his character, Dewey Finn, like a glove: a slacker pothead with a deep and genuine love and knowledge of rock music.
Dewey doesn’t exactly “reform” towards the finale, discovering some light at the end of the tunnel and becoming, say, an uber-successful entrepreneur playboy. No, his “redemption” arrives in the form of jamming out with like-minded souls – young souls already battered by societal expectations and desperately in need of a dose of anarchism. As much of a live-wire as Black is in this film, it’s also an oddly subdued, resonant performance that sticks with you, like Bill Murray’s hapless Phil in “Groundhog Day.”
Usually, it’s next to impossible to find a child actor who doesn’t grate with insincerity and forced cutesy mannerisms. Linklater – who has proven to be a master working with kids (watch “Boyhood” for all the proof you’ll ever need) – gathered an ensemble cast of remarkable child actors. Their rapport with each other and Black is so genuine that it almost feels like a documentary.
And the tunes! Led Zeppelin, Ramones, The Black Keys, AC/DC, The Who, The Stooges, The Clash, Black Sabbath, David Bowie… Nowadays, listening to the film’s soundtrack is even more resonant, reminding us of the days when music was actually MUSIC and not just reprocessed beats and recycled lyrics. Black going nuts in a minivan to a popular classic is one of my all-time favorite cinematic moments. But then there are all the practice scenes, the grand finale (I love the fact that – spoiler alert – our heroes do NOT win the first prize, but still come away victors), and then there is the credit sequence, which deserves to be high on the “All-Time Best Sequences” list.
When the credits roll to that semi-improvised (or at least remarkably free-flowing) final classroom performance, you will have the widest smiles on your face. You may wonder: what happened to films like this? Why is everything either driven by special effects or ideology these days? “School of Rock” is anything but “wholesome.” But it is also appropriate – scratch that – it is a MUST-SEE for the entire family because it’s saying that sometimes, it’s okay to give the finger to society and “Ride Into the Sun” with The Velvet Underground.
Now available on a 20th Anniversary Limited-Edition Blu-ray™ SteelBook
