Reviewed by: Joe

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Produced by: Steve Nicolaides, & Scott Rudin

Cast: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman, Mike White, & Joey Gaydes

Comedy and Musical/Performing Arts 1 hr. 48 min. Fired from his band, rock guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn (Black) takes a job as a 4th grade substitute teacher at an uptight private school where his free livin' lifestyle, attitude, music and antics soon influences the students to explore other sides of themselves the school doesn't encourage. Finn's real goal in taking the job is to recruit a 9-year-old guitar prodigy, Yuki, to become the lead guitarist in a band that would be able to win a "battle of bands", solving Finn's money problems and re-establishing him as a respected rocker.

The School of Rock reforms the school of thought on the conventional family film but not so much so that it will spark a new trend in Hollywood. It’s not that the feature isn’t entertaining, it is. The problem is that it is nothing more then that. The feeling this film leaves you with is hard to describe, so here’s the best way one can put it: If you are at a buddy’s house for a night with your best friends and the School of Rock is the film of choice, you won’t exactly try to weasel everyone out of watching it but you wouldn’t exactly be jumping for joy either.

Despite a decent performance from Black, delightful performances from the children, and a rockin’ song selection, the entire feature film, in the end, just feels flat. The message of the film also seems a bit lost as it preaches a break away from the conventional but at the same advocates children to fight against “the man” or authority, which is definitely a wrong message to send to the young children of America. There are enough problems out there with children disrespecting their parents, school administrators, etc. without this film sermonizing the message of deviance of authority. This may not be the exact way the filmmakers may have intended but it does come off that way. Bottom-line is that School of Rock will do as an entertaining diversion but nothing you essentially need to see before more worthy features like Lost in Translation or Matchstick Men.