School of Rock
Director: Richard Linklater
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 3.0
Mike White's pedestrian script is completely usurped by Jack Black, who takes White's little attempts to develop his characters in predictable ways - the scenes with shy African-American girl who wants to sing or the part towards the end where Black has to explain to his landlord friend what scam he's cooked up - and just dismisses them as the lame-expository-riddled junk they are by rambling past them like the words don't mean a thing (it's as if he's saying: "Yeah, yeah, I'm fat too, let's move on, we're wasting time"). Without Black's 'edge,' this is nothing, really - the kids are clearly amateurs and the 'warm intentions' are all too eager to please an audience demanding morals and whatnot. The gross idea that school is irrelevant because it isn't fueled by passion is tweaked, in a way, by the ending: when the day is done, then you can jam.
