School of Rock 2003

When I posted my Twitter poll a few weeks ago asking if I should watch School Of Rock, many of you voted in your numbers to say I should check it out. In some respects, I'm surprised I haven't given it a go before. I like musicals, I think Jack Black always turns in a great performance and I like a bit of rock and roll. I guess the days before streaming made it hard to watch these films unless the TV schedules aligned, or you happened to find it on Lovefilm, but now Netflix makes it much easier.

It begins strongly, with Dewey Finn (Jack Black) playing a rock concert with his band. Immediately you get a sense of the film's tone, with a hilarious failed stage dive that suggests a comedic touch throughout the motion picture. Dewey is later fired from the band, which acts as a decent pivotal moment to set up his 'want' to create a new group that can set him back on the rock scene.

A couple of key supporting characters in this film are Dewey's roommates Ned (Mike White) and Patty (Sarah Silverman), who tell him he must get a job to play his share of the rent. It's a quick and easy way to establish a motive for Dewey to assume Ned's identity and fulfil the supply teacher role at the school. School Of Rock makes you fully understand and relate to his reasons for committing what is in reality a fraudulent act, and you can relate to his decision-making process. We all need money in order to survive, after all.

Dewey fulfilling the role of a teacher is a lot of fun from the off. It's just so amusing seeing him come in, and effectively strip the rule book out of the window, removing grades, stealing kids' lunches and given them a break time every few minutes. They really play fast and loose with the juxtaposition of this seemingly dumb and useless character suddenly finding himself in a position where he is expected to teach a bunch of posh kids, who all have parents with incredibly high expectations. Their parents have paid through the odds for their private education, and they want their money's worth for sure.

Child casts can make or break a film like this, but the kid actors in this film are brilliant. The amount of talent they possess is incredible, not just in their music and their acting, but also in their own comedic ability. They have so many witty moments throughout the movie, one of my favourites being when they hurl a load of insults at Dewey at Dewey's request. You really have to applaud the casting director Ilene Starger, who did an amazing job at finding such gifted children.

Probably one of the most interesting characters in the film is the school's principal, Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack). She has a pretty strong character arc, transitioning from this stern head mistress constantly worried about the looming presence of the parents who fund their kids' place at her school to this woman who learns to loosen up and have some fun. She arguably goes on more of a journey than any of the others in this flick, showing this surprisingly deep story of a woman who is too concerned about how others view her and has to let go of these worries in order to come out of her shell.
Of course, no musical would be worth its salt without a good tracklist, and School Of Rock has a decent set of songs. There's some catchy numbers here that feel reminiscent of popular hits such as 'Welcome To The jungle' and 'School's Out'. It captures the rock and roll vibe well, and it's no surprise that they adapted this film into a West End musical.

Unfortunately there are some problematic aspects to this film. The first being something that feels a little mean-spirited coming from our main protagonist. You see, upon discovering that the auditions for Battle of the Bands is over, Dewey - acting on a suggestion from band manager Summer (Miranda Cosgrove) - decides to tell the organisers that the kids are terminally ill patients from the local hospital, and have fallen foul of a rare blood disease. This doesn't feel right to me, because it feels like emotional blackmail, and they don't really earn their place in the Battle of the Bands concert either. This rather cruel lie means that they don't even have to audition, and are just automatically included in the show by default. It would surely have been more satisfying to have shown them win their place through talent rather than through such a mean bluff.

There's also a scene in the third act that doesn't quite work on a moral level. Dewey's deception has been discovered, and the kids decide to skip class and hop on the school bus for the planned field trip, telling the bus driver (who somehow believes them, despite no staff member in sight) that he's expected to pick Dewey up from his home and take them to the concert. When the kids arrive at his flat, instead of doing the right thing and taking them back to the school, Dewey hops on the school bus and takes them on the field trip to the concert for their performance. It's frankly bizarre, and essentially child abduction given that these children are supposed to be at school and their parents have no idea where they are. It's weird that nobody noticed how problematic this is, and pointed it out during the Pre-Production process, especially when they have a scene that shows the parents worrying out of their mind.

Overall, School Of Rock is a fun family musical with a great star turn from Jack Black. Whilst there are some problematic elements to the screenplay, it's still a great feel good flick, and certain to entertain even the hardest of souls. It's no wonder that it was adapted into a West End musical, as I bet it's one hell of a show.