October 2- 8, 2003
movies
Each One, Teach One
 IT'S THE GUITAR: Jack Black drops six-string science in The School of Rock.  |
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Jack Black molds young minds in The School of Rock.
In his mind, Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a rock star. Raucously self-confident, attacking his guitar like Pete Townshend and imagining he’s beloved by as-yet-unseen legions of fans, Dewey leads his band at a local club each weekend, where, zapped by the energy he feels surging all around him, he launches himself from the stage into the crowd. Whereupon the unimpressed patrons duly part and let him land -- thud -- on the floor.
In Richard Linklater's perversely cozy School of Rock, Dewey exists somewhere between earnest rock devotee and full-blown goof. Much like Black's oblivious Tenacious D persona, Dewey is so immersed in his fantasy that he can't even imagine other options. Even as his aspirations plainly outstrip his talent, Dewey refuses to give up the dream, man, and resents former bandmate Ned Schneebly (screenwriter Mike White) for doing just that, by becoming a substitute teacher. Dewey's resentment stops short of actually cutting off contact; in fact, he's been sleeping in his buddy's living room, inciting Ned's girlfriend, Patty (Sarah Silverman), to insist that he start paying rent.
Kicked out of his band (whom he excoriates for being "wannabe corporate sellouts"), Dewey is suddenly desperate. When the opportunity presents itself, he poses as Ned to get a gig -- teaching. At Horace Green Elementary, Dewey unexpectedly finds his calling, as headbanging pied piper to a class full of kids who don't know the difference between Pink Floyd and The Doors. When prim principal Rosalie Mullins (splendid Joan Cusack) hesitates to hire him, he insists, "I'm a teacher: All I need are minds to mold."
When Dewey discovers that several of his fifth-grade charges have musical aptitude, he turns them into a band for him to front and take all the way to the local Battle of the Bands. Nonmusicians are assigned other crucial roles -- groupies, band security, band manager, lighting designer and stylist (this last is a fey boy with an affection for magenta and sequins, as predictable in his way as Dewey is in his).
Initially skeptical, the kids warm to the idea, convinced that the climactic Battle constitutes a graded project. Their performances are warm and sweet, including guitarist Zack (Joey Gaydos Jr.), belty backup singer Tomika (10-year-old knockout Maryam Hassan), shy keyboardist Lawrence (Robert Tsai), eager drummer Freddy (Kevin Clark) and uptight A-student turned manager Summer (Miranda Cosgrove). While the film clearly belongs to Black, and he fully occupies every minute of it, the kids' low-key affects help to offset his trademark mania; as he exhorts them to resist "The Man," in between lessons in rock history and rock appreciation and theory, they start to have fun with their new mission in life, pretending to learn math when Miss Mullins comes by or convincing their parents that listening to Hendrix is "homework."
The kids' hard work has paid off. In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, these sudden rock stars more than held their own, even as Black careened and cavorted. They're made doubly cute onstage because they're so young and endearing, and so not like Jack Black. He remains his own invention.
The School of Rock
Directed by Richard Linklater A Paramount release Opens Friday at area theaters • recommended
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