A sweetly subversive film, School Of Rock, could give director Richard Linklater his first mainstream hit. Though the film appears on the surface to be a wild musical comedy assailing the establishment, it also focuses on one crazy man's faith in his young students while showing his unexpected nurturing side.It is also a film about kids wanting to belong. And it focuses on the gradual and believable transformation of a crass musician into someone who not only builds up his own self-esteem but also that of his students. Though the story is preposterous in many places (we give it a C), the film is one of the more interesting feel-good movies in a long time (Inteha tests your patience).
Though Jack Black's performance as a slovenly, obese rock guitarist Dewey Finn, who gets fired from his own band and winds up substitute-teaching a class of fifth-graders, is the mainstay of the film, there are others who have come up with praiseworthy performances as well. Joan Cusack, the two-time Oscar nominee, is a knockout as the repressed school administrator Rosalie, who is terrified by the school's demanding parents, but slowly starts blooming under Dewey's influence. A lesser actress could have made Rosalie a cliché, but Cusack handles her repression and neuroses with warmth, intelligence and naturalness. We begin rooting for her in no time, hoping she finds her true self.
Also delightful are many of the musically gifted children, especially Miranda Cosgrove as the seemingly smug Summer. Many of the children had some classical music training when they came to film but picked up rock music as School Of Rock began its preparation. Which is why it does not come as a surprise that they are so convincing.Dewey Finn is threatened by his timid friend Ned's (Mike White, who also wrote the story) newly arrived girlfriend, Patty (Sarah Silverman), to either pay the rent he owes Ned for several months or leave. Dewey is at a loss; he tries to instigate Ned against the bossy Patty and fails miserably.
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