Jack Black stars in Richard Linklater's superb musical comedy as Dewey Finn, a slacker rock musician who dreams of the big time. Then his group sack him and his live-in landlady suggests he might actually start paying rent.
Bluffing his way into a job as a supply teacher at an expensive private school, Dewey discovers his class have some musical ability. And if he can harness it to the world of rock and enter them in a Battle of the Bands, he will have found a purpose.
Black's breakthrough role is supported by the smart acting of the ensemble cast of kids, led by the sassy Miranda Cosgrove as Summer Hathaway, and Joan Cusack as the school head Rosalie Mullins. But the film definitely belongs to Black, who initially brings some pathos to his character, failing to understand why the world can't appreciate his talents. And when he finds his niche as a teacher of a subject he loves (but which isn't on the curriculum), he blossoms on screen.
School of Rock is a Film programme that first aired in 2003 and has been classified a PG certificate.
