School of Rock

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School of Rock ★★★ 2003 (PG-13)

Substitute any other actor for Jack Black and this movie becomes a direct-to-video blip, or doesn't get made at all. Black is Dewey Finn, a lifelong rocker and true believer who gets tossed by his band and forced to get a job. Dewey snakes a teaching gig from his roomie, ending up at an exclusive elementary school with a stuffy principal (Cusack). There he finds a classroom full of precocious kids with musical talent and an entire spectrum of selfesteem problems. He molds them into a rock band with the intention of entering the Battle of the Bands. Some plot points are treated casually (sometimes to the point of ignoring them), but Black's wildeyed, fullycommitted performance easily carries the day, and he's ably supported by the kids, all of whom can actually play and sing, and by a savvy script that takes the music seriously. 108m/C VHS, DVD . US Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Joey Gaydos, Miranda Cosgrove, Kevin Alexander Clark, Rebecca Julia Brown, Robert Tsai, Maryam Hassan, Caitlin Hale, Aleisha Allen, Brian Falduto, Zachary Infante, James Hosey, Angelo Massagli, Cole Hawkins, Nicole Afflerbach, Jordan-Claire Green, Adam Pascal, Chris Stack, Tim Hopper, Nicky Katt, Kate McGregor-Stewart; D: Richard Linklater; W: Mike White; C: Rogier Stoffers; M: Craig (Shudder to Think) Wedren.

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School of Rock

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