First let me talk about my history with this film. In 2003
when I was 8 years old my dad went to take me and my sister to see this film
in cinemas, and that Monday when I went to school, everyone was talking about it. And over the next 10 years, this was
the iconic film that every kid knew and loved. Whenever there was a film being
shown at school, didn’t matter which class, it was always School of Rock,
except for science which showed us the most scientifically inaccurate films
like Volcano or The Core (Very odd, I know). So yeah, point is, I
have kind of a history with this film. And while granted that element of being
a childhood classic in my books certainly has an effect on my reflection of
this film, I don’t think that means it’s without merit. Don’t get me wrong
there is plenty of stuff in my childhood that to this day I love to death even
though it’s really dumb and bad, but the thing is, I know it’s dumb and bad. I’m
always going to love Pokémon but I’m not going to pretend the show holds up
very well. So I’d like to think that provides me with some sort of immunity to
nostalgia goggles, obviously not completely, after all it’s kind of impossible
to separate a childhood classic and analytical mindset. If something had a
positive impact on your childhood and influenced you in someway, that is a grip
you can never free yourself from. With that being said let’s dive into this
film.
School of Rock follows the story of a wannabee rocker Dewey
Finn desperately looking for money so he poses as a substitute teacher, gets
hired at a prep school and once he learns the kids are musically talented,
forms a rock n roll band, keeping it a secret from the school, the kid’s
parents and his best friend, the actual substitute teacher. Yeah, kind of a
ridiculous premise but Richard Linklater, the director has always kind of been
an experimental filmmaker. Dazed & Confused, Before Sunset, A Scanner
Darkly & Boyhood are all unusual premises for films and you question if
they could actually be made to work but Linklater always finds a way (For the
most part). And in this film’s case he pulls it off like the expert he is,
finding the perfect tone for a film like this and with a witty script by Mike
White filled with great dialogue that is both funny and also finds a way to
make this scenario believable, with likeable characters and good pacing, the
film manages to find that suspension of disbelief that you so badly need with a
premise like this in order for it to work in the first place.
However a great script and great direction mean nothing
without a great lead, and in my opinion this is still Jack Black’s best role
yet. True he has technically had more challenging roles that show his skills as
an actor, as well as funnier roles that highlight his comedic side as well as
roles that better showcase his musical talent. This is the role that fully
embraces that kind of zany, kind of dumb, kind of charming rock n roll nut that
gave Black the identity he’s best known for. Like Robin Williams in Mrs
Doubtfire, Michael J Fox in Back to the Future or Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze
in Point Break, the movie just does not work without him and no one else could
ever play the role as perfectly as him.
But his character actually has more depth to him than you
might think on a basic level. There’s a lot to be debated over what we should
be teaching our kids and how we should be teaching them, but something that a
lot of people have been debating over the years is that it’s more important to
teach kids ideas and ways of expression over factoids that will most likely
prove to be useless to them in the future, e.g. how many people don’t really
need or care that the Mitochondria is the power house of the cell. Now
obviously this is a topic with a lot of ground and what ifs that need to be
covered and I am severely under-qualified to take part in it, but the basic
ideas that we should be helping teach kids more about how to function as people
is more useful than knowing about the Battle of Hastings is not a sentiment I disagree
with. Thus here we have a character who-through very questionable, but
successful methods-is able to help these kids with their issues, find a
healthy form of self-expression, teach them new skills and overall make them
more confident and happy as people. He teaches Zack the lead guitarist to stand
up for himself and not let his parents control him, he gives Lawrence a sense
of self-confidence, shows Freddy an outlet to express himself without resorting
to bullying, helps Tomika get over her body issues. Even in some smaller cases
his actions can mean a lot, when the obviously gay kid Billy (Who Dewey
nickname’s ‘Fancy Pants’) says he wants to be the band’s stylist, Dewey doesn’t
make any kind of a gay joke or even reference that that’s a non-confirmative
gender role, he just says “You got it fancy pants” because this character is
all about having the confidence to express yourself in whatever way makes you
feel good as long as it’s healthy, of course he wouldn’t draw attention to this
or mock him for it, and in the long run that would probably help that boy a lot.
So yeah, Dewey Finn, he might not teach you things like maths or science, but
damn if he doesn’t help make you a better person.
By the way just as a small note, how lucky were they to end
up with this many good child actors? I mean true most of them don’t have that
many lines of dialogue outside of the main band and Summer, played by future
Nickelodeon star Miranda Cosgrove. But one of the unwritten rules of Hollywood
is never work with animals or kids because it’s near impossible to get a good
performance, but this film had the challenge of casting over a dozen kids, all
of which looked roughly the same age, half a dozen of which had to be musically
gifted and fit the physical criteria in some cases with very specific
ethnicities, body types or personalities.
But hey, this is a film about Rock N Roll so how does it
hold up on that end? Kinda brilliant. This was certainly one of those films
that had a big influence on my own personal taste in music and to this day I’ve
always felt my music preferences can be summed up in two genres, classic rock
and Disney songs. So while this film did introduce me to a lot of great music,
it also works as a great critical analysis on the genre. Dewey even has a great
scene talking about the origins and intentions of what rock n roll is supposed
to be and how while it is certainly a genre based around rebellion, it’s not so
much rebelling to hurt the oppressor, but to uplift oneself, make you not feel
ashamed of liking what you like and not letting anyone get you down for it. The
film even subtly takes jabs at bad rock n roll, the band’s main rival for the
battle of the bands competition and winner of the show-to which
everyone thinks didn’t deserve it-was a cheesy rock n roll ballad with
pretentious nonsensical lyrics meant to appeal to the mass audience with little
artistic integrity. Which is interesting considering the film itself doesn’t make
this observation, you just have to listen to the song and understand the
intention given the context, so yeah, the film intentionally made a “So bad it’s
good” song, which I didn’t think was possible.
What else needs to be said? This is one of those lightning
in the bottle films where all the right people came together to make a truly
outstanding film, perfect casting, perfect directing, perfect music, absolutely
one of the best.
-Danny
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