School of Rock

Released: 2003
Comedy
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Jack Black, Adam Pascal, Mike White
Running Time: 108 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown: A loser without a job who just got kicked out of his own rock band, needs a way to make quick money to pay his rent owed to his friend.

So Black lives with his friend, who has a bitchy new girlfriend demanding Black move out or pay his rent which is way overdue.  Black gets voted out of his own band, and can't stand the idea of getting a real job, so he's lost.  One day when he's the only one at home, he takes a call meant for his roommate who's a substitute teacher.  He decides to pretend to be his friend so he can work for a few weeks at an elite prep school and ends up turning the class room into a rock band so they can compete at a battle of the bands competition where the grand prize is $20,000.

I think I chuckled once, but otherwise I didn't much care for this.  I have to say Jack Black was not as annoying as he usually is so that was a plus, but the plot was just too thin for me to care and all the characters were just surface of course.  This was probably a great movie role for Black since he gets to play air guitar and make stupid "rock" faces.

Skip it.  1 out of 5 for Joan Cusack.