Hey folks, Harry here... I really can't say just how happy I am to hear that this film is cool. It had all the earmarks of possibly being a lame movie with great talent. First off, it had the near death sentence of a rated R comedian teamed up with children... elementary school age children. Usually this means painfully dull entertainment. BUT it had Linklater in charge of Jack Black, and I just refused to believe that Rick would allow this film to venture into suckage at all. Hell, I even like the trailer... it actually feels cool. Here's Capone to give you a peek...

Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here. Gosh darn, how I love Jack Black. I remember back in 1999 stumbling across the first “Tenacious D” episode to air on HBO. I can’t remember a time before or since when I hooked into a phenomenon so completely after watching something that lasted only a half hour. The second and third episode ran and my mind spun out of control as I tried to find out as much about Black and his blood brother Kyle Gass as I could. It wasn’t long after “Tenacious D” premiere that Black was in Chicago filming HIGH FIDELITY, and naturally you couldn’t put Black in such a musical town filming such a musical movie without he and Gass playing at least one “D” show, which they did at the House of Blues. That show may go down as the single funniest event I’ve ever laid witness to. I was in so much pain at times from laughing so hard, I literally had to look away and plug my ears at points to simply not hear or see anymore.

Since HIGH FIDELITY, Jack’s been prominently featured in several films varying in quality: SAVING SILVERMAN (shit); SHALLOW HAL (pretty good); ORANGE COUNTY (so-so). And he even got to host an MTV Movie Awards and be a part of some hysterical film parodies. Black has two films coming out in the near future that I’ve been looking forward to: ENVY, co-starring and directed by Ben Stiller (Black’s director in the “Heat Vision and Jack” pilot), the release of which has been pushed back again, this time into 2004 and possibly even straight to video; and THE SCHOOL OF ROCK, which opens October 3. I’ve seen the trailer for ENVY, and I think it has possibilities. But SCHOOL OF ROCK is pure Jack Black. For Tenacious D fans, the film will mark the closest Black has come to his JB persona (albeit in a PG-13 context) on film. Black plays Dewey Finn, a heavy metal guitar player who is booted from his band when the other members decide they want to “get serious.” In his place, they hire a muscle-bound pretty boy and wear trendier clothes. Finn is appalled by the band’s lack of commitment to “the music” and vows to form his own band to kick their asses at an upcoming battle of the bands.

Dewey sleeps on the floor in an apartment shared with his long-time buddy Ned (the film’s writer Mike White, who also wrote ORANGE COUNTY, THE GOOD GIRL, and CHUCK & BUCK) and his girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman, a funny and talented stand-up whose gifts are a bit wasted in this film, but still it’s good to see her in films). Ned is a substitute teacher, who receives a call from the finest prep schools in the state (which state, I’m not sure) to come teach for an extended period. Unfortunately, Dewey intercepts the call and pretend he’s Ned because he needs the money. Just the idea of placing Jack Black in charge of 20 or so preteens in school uniforms is one of those movie pitches that sounds like it would be funny as a short skit but could never work as a full-length feature. But even a reeled-in Jack Black is funnier than 95 percent of the comedies I’ve seen so far this year. SCHOOL OF ROCK is Jack Black’s finest work, which is not the same thing as saying it’s his finest film he’d been in (that honor still belongs to HIGH FIDELITY). But Black has never had the chance to just cut loose like he does here.

Upon convincing the principal, Ms. Mullins (the also-back-in-top-form Joan Cusack) that he is a teacher, Dewey enters a class full of prim and proper kids eager to learn and quickly realizes that most of these kids are probably smarter than him. Unlike a lot of other films with child actors acted far wiser than their years. These kids actually act like kids, who just happen to be more intelligent and privileged than some. I was particularly impressed with the performances of two of the young actors: Kevin Alexander Clark as Freddy, who takes Dewey’s life lessons a little too much to heart; and Miranda Cosgrove as Summer. This girl is going to floor you. Clearly someone who will grow up to break many a heart, she’s also surprisingly confident next to Black’s insanity in her first major role. Not having any clue what to teach these kids at first, Dewey simply allows them to slack off while he dozes at his desk. But when he finds out that the kids’ mandatory music classes have made them especially good players, he hatches a scheme to turn them into his new band to win a Battle of the Band contest for $20,000. The scenes of Dewey schooling these kids are priceless. He not only teaches them their parts of the songs they learn (which are a combination of Tenacious D-style rants minus the satanic elements, and Meat Loaf-style rock opera) but he infuses in them rock history and what it is to think and act like a rock god. He gives his band members classic CDs to absorb (for example, a Yes CD to his keyboard player; Hendrix to his guitarist; Buddy Rich to the drummer), and gives those who are less musical key jobs as roadies, lighting designers, security (to keep an eye out for the principal, of course), and the all-important groupies. Summer, not wanting to lower herself being a groupie, gets to be band manager.

In nearly all of his films, director Richard Linklater has explored youth culture across the decades. SLACKER, DAZED AND CONFUSED (my personal favorite), BEFORE SUNRISE, SUBURBIA, and the magnificent WAKING LIFE all feature young people trying to figure out their place in the world. In a strange way, SCHOOL OF ROCK is about the same thing. These smart kids often see themselves as outcasts, and teacher Dewey identifies with them and actually seems to care about what their interests are when their other teachers and their parents don’t. Dewey never talks down to them, but he doesn’t simply treat them like adults either. Black’s ability to find that place between infantile monkey and fun older brother is remarkable. And I haven’t even mentioned Dewey’s seduction of Principal Mullins using a little alcohol and a whole lot of Stevie Nicks music. Classic stuff.

I don’t want to ruin the few non-surprises this film possesses, but as expected Dewey gets busted for impersonating a teacher, thus compromising his chances of participating in the Battle of the Bands against his former bandmates. But SCHOOL OF ROCK is definitely aiming for mass appeal, so let’s just say there’s no way in hell it’s going to end on a down note. I truly loved this movie. The laughs are constant, the performances are splendid, even the music is pretty good. I pray to the heavens above that this film helps get a Tenacious D movie in the can a whole lot faster and easier. Making Jack Black a bankable star would make many of us feel a whole lot better about the world, and SCHOOL OF ROCK is poised to do just that.

Capone

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