The School of Rock

The whole family went to see The School of Rock today. Roger Ebert went out of his way to point out that that PG-13 rating was silly, and that this was a good family film, so off went. Our daughter, who turns 7 this week, got to open her presents beforehand as we will be on a group outing on the actual day of her birthday. Since she'd peaked, as we all do, shortly after the presents were opened, and still wanted to play, she was not all that happy to be taken to a movie with "real people" (as opposed to animated people, her favorite (she's so my daughter that way)). Well, she giggled and danced the whole way through; gave it a big thumbs up at the end. My wife laughed out loud many times, which is an accomplishment, as she doesn't often laugh at scripted material. The majority of the audience was pre-teenagers, and they LOVED the movie. (In the men's room afterward, as we queued up, they all chattered excitedly about the fact that all the kids really played and sang as you see it in the film (which is true), and talked about forming their own bands. Dear Lord, yes!!!! Rock and roll staggers from the grave yet again!) Several adults belly-laughed throughout, as well. Jack Black is a joy.

Yes, this is a good movie. And so is literally everything else Richard Linklater has made. (Well, Waking Life is for fans and stoners only, but the rest of his oeuvre is excellent.) It's worth your time and money. Warm up ahead of time and see Dazed and Confused, his best so far. Rock on and all that.

TLD:The championing of rock and roll, and the fact that the kids in the audience responded so well to it, reminded me of a tiny episode when my wife and I were first dating. I was dragged to one of those family dinners, ostensibly for a possible future spouse test-drive with the family I would guess, and during the meal, her younger brother started extolling the virtues of rap. This would not do. The very next day me and the future missus went to the CD store and got AC/DC, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Steve Miller, and a few other rock gods and goddesses and drove them right over. We knocked, he answered, and we just handed the stack to him and said, and I quote, "Here." Maybe he mistook our utterance for its near-homonym, but either way, it worked. He was saved.

Hallelujah.