If anyone had told me that madman comic Jack Black was going to
make a family-friendly comedy like
”
The School of Rock,
”
currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, I would have said they
were crazy.
However, Black with the help of the accomplished Joan Cusak,
delivers a good performance as a washed up rocker who finagles his
way into a position as a substitute teacher.
If anyone had told me that madman comic Jack Black was going to make a family-friendly comedy like “The School of Rock,” currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, I would have said they were crazy.
However, Black with the help of the accomplished Joan Cusak, delivers a good performance as a washed up rocker who finagles his way into a position as a substitute teacher.
This one-hour and 48-minute release from Paramount Pictures is a delightful combination of Rolling Stone meets Sesame Street.
Director Richard Linklater displays a deft touch with this otherwise formulaic structure of this comedy.
Even though you know a ot of what’s comming, you find yourself laughing.
The laughter in this movie cocomes from Black’s, easy at making us really want to root for guys who, by any rational measure, can only be described as huge mistakes.
The plot centrs around Black’s character , musician Dewey Finn.
He drives his roommate crazy and wallows in mind-altering substances in the name of his dedication to rock ‘n’ roll music until his band mates kick him out of the band.
On the brink of homelessness, Dewey finagles his way into a private school as a substitute teacher, where he is confronted with a class of gifted fifth-graders.
The children, in this very restricted environment , can see he’s a mess, but they are still young enough to be delighted by his style. Dewey turns the class into a rock band just as time is approaching for a major unsigned-band challenge.
One of the best parts of this movie is its affection for the children.
Of course it turns out that the class is full of steretypical types of children like the bossy know-it-all; the brainy-klutz-just-waiting-to-break-out; the talented-but-chubby girl; the boy-who-wants-to-design-clothes and so on.
They are funny, but the movie does not treat them as jokes. Their anxieties and enthusiasms are treated with a real sense of respect.
And so does Dewey’s growing admiration for what the kids can accomplish.
While dodging pressure from Cusack’s character as principal, school officials and parents who are wound too tight to see what special gifts their own children have to offer, Black’s character slowly becomes emotionally attached to the youths until he is actually more concerned about what’s best for them than for himself.
In many respects the children in this movie are helping Dewey grow up at the same time he is helping them learn how to express themselves and become part of a team.
This movie has some minor uses of foul language, hardly ny violence and no gore ore death scenes. By today’s standards it is a fairly tame film.
