Jack Black plays Dewey Finn, a guitarist and vocalist who gets fired from his band and, hard up for cash, fakes his way into a fifth-grade substitute teaching job at a private school. That is the setup of The School of Rock, Richard Linklater’s 2003 comedy, and it is a setup built to fail. A man with no teaching license, no lesson plan and no interest in either talks his way past a stern principal and spends his days teaching straight-A students the finer points of rock ‘n’ roll. The film knows exactly how thin that premise is, and it works anyway.
Trailer, via Park Circus.
Dewey Finn Takes Ned Schneebly’s Name
Mike White wrote the script, and his Dewey is not a hero. He is a freeloader who lies to his roommate Ned Schneebly, played by Mike White himself, and to Ned’s girlfriend Patty Di Marco, played by Sarah Silverman. Dewey takes Ned’s identity to get the job. That is fraud, played for laughs, and the film never asks you to forget it.
The classroom is where the film settles. Dewey does not teach math. He teaches the kids to play. Zack, played by Joey Gaydos Jr., is the guitarist. Freddy Jones, played by Kevin Alexander Clark, is the drummer. Katie, played by Rivkah Reyes, is on bass. Lawrence, played by Robert Tsai, is on keys. Summer Hathaway, played by Miranda Cosgrove, becomes the manager. Tomika, played by Maryam Hassan, is the shy one who can sing.
Rosalie Mullins Runs the School on Rules
Joan Cusack plays Rosalie Mullins, the principal. She is the obstacle, and she is the best thing in the movie. Cusack plays her tight and tired, a woman running a private school on rules because rules are all she has. She is not a villain. She is a person doing a job Dewey is actively making harder.
The film’s tension comes from her closing in. Dewey has to hide the band, hide the rehearsals and hide the fact that he is not Ned Schneebly. Every scene where Mullins gets closer works because Cusack lets you see her thinking.
The Battle of the Bands Looms
The plot runs toward a Battle of the Bands, and the film is smart enough to make the contest the point rather than the prize. Dewey is not trying to win a trophy. He is trying to prove that rock ‘n’ roll can change lives, which is a ridiculous thesis and the movie believes it completely.
The tagline says it: “He just landed the gig of his life: 5th grade.” That is the joke and the argument at once. The gig is not the band. The gig is the kids.
The Kids Get Real Scenes
The cast is deep. Aleisha Allen plays Alicia. Caitlin Hale plays Marta. The kids are not props. They get scenes, they get jokes, and they get to be better musicians than the adults around them.
What does not work is the length. At 110 minutes, The School of Rock sags in the middle, where the rehearsal scenes repeat a beat the film already made. Dewey teaches. The kids resist. Dewey wins them over. The film runs that cycle a few times too many.
The genres are listed as Comedy, Family, Music, and the Family part is the weakest. The edges are sanded. Dewey’s fraud has no real consequence. The film pulls its punches where a sharper version would not.
Why 7.1 Is the Right Number
The published score is 7.1/10, drawn from 6368 votes on TMDB. That number is fair. The School of Rock is a good film with a great performance at its center and a script that knows its own limits.
Here is what matters, ranked:
- Jack Black as Dewey Finn. The film lives or dies on him, and it lives.
- Joan Cusack as Rosalie Mullins. The best-written character in the movie.
- The kids, especially Miranda Cosgrove as Summer Hathaway.
- The Battle of the Bands payoff.
- The middle stretch, which is where the film loses its footing.
- Title: The School of Rock
- Year: 2003
- Director: Richard Linklater
- Writer: Mike White
- Runtime: 110 minutes
- Genres: Comedy, Family, Music
- Score: 7.1/10 (TMDB audience score, 6368 votes)
A Liar Who Turns Out to Be Right
The School of Rock is a film about a liar who turns out to be right. Dewey Finn is fired, broke and dishonest, and he still manages to teach a room of fifth-graders something real. That is the trick of the movie, and it lands because Jack Black sells it without a wink.
It is not a great film. The middle drags, the family-friendly edges soften a story that could have cut deeper, and the fraud at the center never costs Dewey anything. But the performance is undeniable, Cusack is excellent, and the final act earns its noise.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
