Saturday, 3 July 2004
The School of Rock
Do you like chocolate? How about ice cream? Caramel? How about any sweet, in any form?
If you answered "no" to all of those questions - or maybe even if only to one of them - you don't need to bother reading any further. Go back to your liver-and-onion-lovers support group and practice your bitter frown.
The rest of us know the pleasure of things for their own pleasure. No benefits (aside from the visceral), no grand contributions, no guilt. Self-indulgent. Bohemian. Hedonist. Voluptuary.
These are all names that Jack Black would understand, and they apply just as well to The School of Rock as to his character in it. This is a film with no aspiration of greatness, not interest in elevating the audience's consciousness, no hope to improve the quality of your life.
And yet, it does. The plot is thin, but it's extremely well-executed. The moppets could be grating, but instead they're endearing and, to a certain extent, more than just two-dimensional caricatures. The music is fun and just plain rocks - whether it's Black's silly improv'ed tunes or the kids' grand finale, only the stone-deaf or the stone-hearted will be unmoved. The lesson plan is right there, and it's spelled "fun". And like some perpetual motion machine, you get infinitely more energy out of this film than you ever expected to put into it as a viewer.
Besides the 5,000-cc engine that is Jack Black, kudos go to the much-less maniacal acting from writer Mike White and the every-slightly skewed Richard Linklater. Both of them have art-house cred (Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl, Waking Life), pop-culture appeal ("Dawson's Creek"), as well as counter-culture followings (Dazed and Confused, Slacker).
I'm giving away a key plot point here, but it's a testament to this trio. The whole premise of the film (getting ready for a battle of the bands), the against-the-odds premise (kids duking it out against adults at said battle of the bands) and the stunning performance (the kids, again, and the battle of the bands, again) - all of this, it's pure bubble-gum empowerment and wish-fulfillment at its most classic.
Yet, what do they do? Despite the build-up - and the entirely expected pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - the kids lose. That's right, lose. Not an "oops, our bad" moment, where the winners are stripped of their honor for some technicality. Not a "things work out" ending, where the deserving kids unmask a nefarious plot to rig the show. No, this was an honest-to-goodness sip from the real-life can of whoop-ass. The better band played, rocked out - and lost.
But the film doesn't end on a sour note. Some wishes are fulfilled, but in a much more realistic way (comparatively, if not in absolute terms). Like Daddy Dare Care, only better, Black and White (there's a name pairing that's obviously made in Hollywood heaven) open their own kiddie rock academy. And - apparently - live happily ever after, rockin' out.
Special mention goes to the lyricists - my bet is Black, with help from White, though maybe the kids themselves helped out. And high honors go to the child performers, who really do belt out those verses, licks, or drum solos.
The ending - the true ending, the one running as the credits roll - is a super-concentrated moment of bliss for anyone who remotely liked the film. The principles just jam, adding fourth-wall-breaking lyrics to wall-shaking sound.
I went in to this film expecting a throw-away evening (in fact, this wasn't even Heather's and my first choice to see that night). I came out floored by how much I enjoyed it, and just about everyone - especially Heather and I - left the theatre, grinning ear to ear. And hey: for a film with no apparent goals, that isn't such a bad result after all, is it?
5 / 5 - not Shakespeare, not even Pixar - but you can't beat these kids and grown-up kids having fun and spreading the good vibe