Movie Night: School of Rock

“Hold on, a rock concert in the middle of the day...? Wait a minute, what am I saying? Yeah, like that’s the most unrealistic part.”

Pam had the presence of mind to catch herself before she started anlyzing School of Rock all that deeply. Still, coming from director Richard Linklater (of Slackers fame), one might be forgiven for thinking this would be... if not serious, then that it would take itself a bit more seriously. But other than a very thoroughly researched and presented appreciation of the finer points of classic rock, the movie’s intended strictly as an entertaining diversion.

And divert it does. Yes, there are times when credibility is stretched well beyond the breaking point, but Jack Black’s ridiculously over-the-top antics remind you once again that yes, it’s only a movie. Just go with it.

And hey, the girls loved it (or at least our eight-year-old did — to be fair, it was a little beyond our youngest). Yes, it’s rated PG-13, but it’s a fairly mild PG-13. In fact, I find it hard to believe that this movie garners the same rating as, say, Jurassic Park; just goes to show you that the MPAA has its head firmly ensconced up its ass (or perhaps it’s indicative of the ludicrously skewed priorities of our nation as a whole, truly a scarier prospect). The picture never stoops to moralizing, but the “messages” (if one could really call them that) are invariably positive. Even the snotty little brown-nosing smarty-pants ends up having a valuable role to play (in fact, she ended up being my daughter’s favorite character).

Of course, her enjoyment means I’ve got a new mission: Find out if the movie’s signature song is available at the iTunes Music Store...

Nope. Oh, well. We’ll see how she takes it, but I might end up having to shell out a bit more for the whole soundtrack. Which, given a couple of the other tracks on it, might not be all that big a sacrifice.