October 3, 2003

Putting a Spin on the 3 R's (Rock, Roll and Rebellion)

orget all that touchy-feely blather about getting in touch with your wounded inner child. The irresistibly good-natured comedy "School of Rock" proposes a far bolder and more playful path toward self-realization. It imagines that deep in the soul of every child, parent and even the crustiest school principal a suppressed rock 'n' roll maniac is clamoring for release. Or as this movie's resident doctor of rock liberation announces to a group of shy fifth graders, rock 'n' roll is about "sticking it to the man."

What child could resist that urge when the self-appointed healer unlocking that inner rocker is as lovable (if exasperating) as Dewey Finn (Jack Black), a rotund, wild-eyed heavy-metal guitarist? Dewey has just been kicked out of the band he helped found for being an obnoxious, egomaniacal jerk. In a desperate scheme to come up with the rent money, Dewey passes himself off as a substitute teacher at Horace Green prep, an academically snooty private school for the offspring of yuppies.

Facing a classroom of 10-year-old goody-goodies whose achievements are measured in gold stars, Dewey is flabbergasted when his students cite Christina Aguilera, the musical "Annie" and Liza Minnelli as their musical influences and claim total ignorance of Dewey's personal hard-rock pantheon. He immediately undertakes a drastic re-education program to indoctrinate his students in the gospel according to Led Zeppelin and the Ramones. Dewey's crash course involves doing as well as listening. In a matter of weeks he transforms a class of pint-size nerds into a hard-driving band named School of Rock, which struts all the right defiant poses as it blasts out power chords.

The movie, which opens nationally today, is a very funny for-kids-of-all-ages delight that should catapult Mr. Black straight to the top of the A-list of Hollywood funnymen. Not since Jim Carrey twitched, mugged and leered his way to the head of the class has a comic actor stirred up such a gleeful furor on the screen. And not since John Belushi has one used the anarchic roar of rock as a conceptual platform.

It helps that Mr. Black, who made such a vivid impression as a music-obsessed record store clerk in "High Fidelity," is a real musician as well as a comic live wire. His musically savvy caricature of a rock 'n' roll wild man infuses real passion into the movie, which was directed by Richard Linklater from a screenplay by Mike White (who also plays a small role). The idea of rock as an unstoppable, democratizing cultural force may be half a century old, but recycled with this much enthusiasm and expertise, it can still convey a buzz of exhilaration.

"School of Rock" is the first mainstream comedy directed by Mr. Linklater ("Waking Life," "Before Sunrise"), who demonstrates an unerring sense of where to draw the line. Had it become any cuter, this film might have turned into a squishy clone of "The Bad News Bears." Had it been any smarter, it might have seemed too esoteric for a mass audience. (Its encyclopedic knowledge of rock lineage is the only overtly scholarly thing about it.) Were it any raunchier, it would have risked losing its family-friendly PG-13 rating. (The fifth graders may wear spiky postpunk hairstyles, but they are not plunged, or even tempted to plunge, into a netherworld of drugs and sex.)

Mr. Linklater, who directed the underappreciated rock-driven high school movie "Dazed and Confused" 10 years ago, recognizes that for most Americans between 15 and 50, American history and rock history are virtually synonymous. But the movie is not entirely adult-friendly. Instead of touting parental rock favorites like the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Eagles, its heart belongs to the cruder stuff: the raw, pumping charge of AC/DC and Metallica.

Dewey's problems begin the day he is fired by his band and threatened with eviction by Patty (Sarah Silverman), the bossy shrew who has taken over the life of his nerdy roommate, Ned (Mr. White). When Ned, who has given up rock 'n' roll to work as a substitute teacher, receives an emergency cry for help from the Horace Green School, Dewey happens to take the call and impulsively impersonates his roommate to apply for the job.

The mousy school principal who hires him, Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack), is a model of nervous rectitude behind whose spectacles flashes a tiny glint of rebellion. But as it turns out, two sips of beer are all it takes to unleash Rosalie's inner Stevie Nicks.

Dewey's master plan is to mold the students into a self-contained rock band, and to carry it off he dreams up a role for every fifth grader. Those who are not musicians design lights, costumes and sound, or serve as roadies. Under Dewey's impassioned tutelage it takes only a few plugged-in twangs for the lead guitarist, Zack (Joey Gaydos Jr.), to catch the spirit; and when the geeky keyboardist, Lawrence (Robert Tsai), finds a groove, he stops feeling like a hopeless outsider.

Tomika (Maryam Hassan), a shy backup singer, begins to blossom the moment she discovers her inner Aretha. The students are adorable, with just enough backbone to keep from melting into icky Hollywood moppets.

Rehearsals take place during school hours while a lookout monitors a surveillance camera that spots approaching school officials. When one appears the class switches into a ludicrous pretense of earnest historical discussion. The project culminates in a Battle of the Bands that has all the hoopla of a "Rocky" prizefight.

"School of Rock" doesn't try to convince us that any of this is real or even remotely possible. A shaggy loudmouth like Dewey could never talk his way into a substitute teaching job. The molding of a fifth-grade class into a well-oiled rock machine in a few weeks is also inconceivable, as is the notion that it could be done in secret under the principal's nose.

Arriving at a moment when hip-hop has superseded rock as the dominant commercial music, "School of Rock" feels a little déjà vu. "School of Rock" is really a comic postscript to the rock revolution. A 21st-century "Rock Around the Clock," it longs for the combative spirit of those good old days before Beethoven decided to roll over and tell Tchaikovsky the news.

"School of Rock" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for strong language.

SCHOOL OF ROCK

Directed by Richard Linklater; written by Mike White; director of photography, Rogier Stoffers; edited by Sandra Adair; music by Craig Wedren; production designer, Jeremy Conway; produced by Scott Rudin; released by Paramount Pictures. Running time: 110 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Jack Black (Dewey Finn), Joan Cusack (Rosalie Mullins), Mike White (Ned Schneebly), Sarah Silverman (Patty Di Marco), Joey Gaydos Jr. (Zack), Robert Tsai (Lawrence), Maryam Hassan (Tomika) and Kevin Clark (Freddy Jones).