#SCHOOL OF ROCK THE MUSICAL SCRIPT MOVIE#
#SCHOOL OF ROCK THE MUSICAL SCRIPT FULL#

This may have come out about two years after 'Waking Life' and 'Tape', but it's still weird how big of a transition Linklater made, not from art drama to commercial comedy, but to something actually entertaining. Ah, yes, ladies and gentlemen, from the mind of 'Slacker', 'Before Sunrise', 'Waking Life' and 'Tape' comes yet another artistic triumph in filmmaking, a study on the flaws of a rock star's life and of university-preparatory education, starring acclaimed thespian Jack Black.

'We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control!' I know that's the tagline of the film, but seriously, it's just too hard to not think of that when thinking of this film, even though Pink Floyd's earlier, more abstract tracks fit Richard Linklater's filmmaking tastes at this time more. Obviously, I can't get over how feebly written 'School of Rock's protagonist is and how we're supposed to be won over by the charm of it all.

#SCHOOL OF ROCK THE MUSICAL SCRIPT FULL#

Alas, the ever-neurotic Joan Cusack single-handedly earns a full star in the rating. The broad characterizations are juvenile, from the stiff parents, to the bland students, to of course the recurring villain of the story: the evil, fun-sucking girlfriend (Sarah Silverman), whose frustrations are often valid, yet framed as alarmingly unreasonable.

Without any exploration, the parents are a nameless army of bad guys and stiffs who automatically don't prioritize their children's joy. The script can't even morally justify why Dewey ultimately hijacked a semester's worth of tuitions to appease his personal ambitions.

#SCHOOL OF ROCK THE MUSICAL SCRIPT MOVIE#

30 minutes in, I wanted this slight Disney Channel original movie to just hit its telegraphed beats already and wrap up. With him having penned the soberingly offbeat 'The Good Girl' the year prior, I expected much more from Mike White, yet the story drags. He is aggressively shallow without much effort, Black plays him precisely as the oblivious flake that he is, so.yay, great acting? There is a little substance or basis for his motives other than inconsiderate abandon as a means to relive his former glory in some vein. Remind me again how his absolute insistence is less overbearing than these children's uptight parents? Oh yeah, I forgot - rock and roll is fun, man! Rules are for squares!

He doesn't care about truly enriching others' lives or personally evolving, he just sniffs out the easiest route possible to force people to like what he likes, so he doesn't have to be challenged. Dewey relates to each character in the context of how they will service his personal interests. The film can't decided whether to condone Jack Black's obnoxious man child with zero consideration for folks other than himself or not, so it sheepishly skirts around the issue. Linklater's tribute vehicle to a beloved genre plays like a B-rate effort that Disney dusted off, patched together, and hastily pushed out in the wake of 'Freaky Friday's punkish success. I am genuinely baffled as to why 'School of Rock' is so well received.

School of rock the musical script