School of Rock
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: October 3, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The School of Rock was made by gifted veterans of the American indie scene, but it's still the most unlikely great movie of the year. Read full review
100
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's a bravura, all-stops-out, inexhaustibly inventive performance. I don't know how much was improvised, and how much comes from White's sharp screenplay, but Black may never again get a part that displays his mad-dog comic ferocity to such brilliant effect. He, and the movie, kick ass. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Corliss
Three of the hippest indie film princes make a perfect commercial comedy. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
First and foremost a very funny film, and a very pleasant one that doesn't really have a villain. Credit for its hilarity goes largely to Black, who gives the performance of his career as a character who might have seemed merely coarse and crude in less gifted hands. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This joyous farce is a big, big deal, and Jack Black is nothing less than majestic as a scruffy, irreverent rocker passing himself off as a pedagogue in a private school.
100
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
An exuberant, raucous and thoroughly endearing comedy Read full review
100
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
All Black, all the time, and could easily have been an exhausting mess. But the movie is coherent, hilarious and surprisingly sweet. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Crowd-pleasing, feel-good stuff. Read full review
90
Film ThreatK.J. Doughton
School of Rock kicks ass. It's one movie that definitely goes to eleven. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Linklater, whose previous movies include "Slacker," "Before Sunrise," and "Waking Life," may be the most versatile director of his generation. School of Rock is his most unabashedly mainstream movie by far, and yet it’s commercial in the best way. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A movie for almost everyone, from boomer parents (who remember their teens and twenties) to their teenage kids (who can't wait to get started with same). And if there's anyone who can bring so many into the same mosh pit, it's Black, who so occupies the role you can't believe he's acting. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
For all its slickness, School of Rock has a let's-put-on-a-show quality that touches you in the most direct way a movie can. It's as if the filmmakers had said, "I'd like to teach the world to kick butt--in perfect harmony." Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
As far from "Slacker" as you could possibly get and still be using a motion-picture camera, The School of Rock is nonetheless pure Linklater, pure rock & roll, and pure fun. Gabba, gabba, hey! Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
The movie is the cinematic equivalent of a near-perfect three-minute pop song. It makes you laugh, smile and tap your toes over a brisk 88 minutes, and when it's finished, you're ready to hit repeat. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
It plays even more like a bent version of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" for the new millennium. Slinging a line of bull but displaying genuine affection for the youngsters he's bamboozling. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
If quirky, independent, grown-up outsider filmmakers set out to make a family movie, this is the kind of movie they would make. And they did. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
School of Rock may be to Black what "The Nutty Professor" was to Jerry Lewis, or "Groundhog Day" was to Bill Murray - that rare, perfectly tailored opportunity to play against one's broadest impulses. Not to neutralize them, necessarily, but to tame them and turn them into something very human and charming. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Utterly adorable. Read full review
88
PremiereKelly Borgeson
An unexpectedly exuberant, only mildly subversive celebration of music, learning, and going all out for what you love. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film hits another comic mother lode in the byplay between Black and Cusack. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Jack Black is consistently hilarious--and not just in his dreams of moshpit glory. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Though tagged as the director's bid for commercial success, School Of Rock is as philosophical in its own way as "Slacker" or "Waking Life." It was made by people who not only know the music well enough to create magnificent flowcharts around it, but also understand how a simple, soul-stirring rock song can seem revolutionary. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Takes a clever premise and Black's unflagging manic energy and comes up with a pleasing mainstream comedy that uses new people and attitudes to entertain in old-fashioned ways. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A very funny for-kids-of-all-ages delight that should catapult Mr. Black straight to the top of the A-list of Hollywood funnymen. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
In its cornball "Let's put on a show!" crudeness, its Cuisinart collapsing of rock history, and its reduction of the ambiguous, libidinal revolt led by Elvis and Mick and Johnny Rotten and Kurt Cobain to the level of pampered middle-school posturing, School of Rock is a clever and sometimes a beautiful thing. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The kids, all real musicians performing, are wonderful, and so is Black; Joan Cusack is both charming and funny as the principal. Read full review
80
EmpireChris Hewitt
The feel-good hit of the year thus far. Be warned, though: if you think a little Jack Black goes a long way, then this isn’t for you. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The movie is a polished (and irresistible) piece of crowd-pleasing formula and deserves to become a monster hit. But it is also a perfect showcase for the volcanic talents of the rotund comedian/musician/all-around wildman. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's one of the great have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too performances of the year. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Linklater powers the film with the energy and attitude and beat of his soundtrack. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
One of the year's most consistently entertaining and ingratiating movies, building to an inspirational climax that's as rousing as it is predictable. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Even education can't kill the demon of fun in Black. Enroll in his class and you won't stop laughing. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
Combined with hilarious physical business and perfectly overearnest delivery of pseudocool lines like, "Let your fingers do the rocking!," he (Black) pretty much single-handedly keeps the formulaic progress funny. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
School of Rock, populated by bright-shiny faces given a "Revenge of the Nerds" happy ending, is light and meaningless but never worthless. It merely aspires to be a good time and is just that and nothing more, a grin-worthy buzz that wears off in the parking lot. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
Still, the big-show musical payoff is good fun, and Black and his little doppelgangers have it all over "Daddy Day Care." Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
A picture with pop's delicious energy yet none of its attendant risk, a flick that no one will love but everyone will like. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Like the particular brand of music Dewey espouses, this is a movie more concerned with exploiting rock than understanding it. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
The kids -- most of them first-timers cast for natural charisma and musical ability -- steal the show, and a talented supporting cast helps take the edge off Black's manic antics. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
Anyone who loves rock music will appreciate the script's insights into the form and its history. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Feel-good tripe: a string of clichés lashed together by a formulaic plot that features underwritten characters and sit-com style humor. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Somewhere inside "School" lurks a heartwarming or hilarious movie, perhaps both. Read full review
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