School of Rock

""School of Rock" is as serious as it can be about its comic subject, and never condescends to its characters or its audience."

"The whole show is basically Black’s, and while he has done variations on this ranting, cartoon-rawk chubster before, “School of Rock” is ideally suited to harness his shtick as its engine. He really can riff and shriek like every bedroom Led Zep fantasist dreams of doing."

"This is pretty tame stuff for a wild man like Black, not to mention screenwriter Mike White and indie director Richard Linklater — kid-friendly crowd pleasers are hardly their meat. But even education can't kill the demon of fun in Black. Enroll in his class and you won't stop laughing."

"'School of Rock'' is really a comic postscript to the rock revolution. A 21st-century ''Rock Around the Clock,'' it longs for the combative spirit of those good old days before Beethoven decided to roll over and tell Tchaikovsky the news."

"Linklater and White showcase Black's sarcastic humor and musical talent in equal parts (the actor has his own band, Tenacious D), and those who find his crass comedy painful in large doses should be warned that he's in nearly every scene."