History Film / SchoolOfRock

* ClownCarBase: Somehow Dewey manages to pack the entire class, plus instruments, into his van.

* EEqualsMCHammer: Dewey writes ''E = mc
'' on the board while pretending to teach the children something. Played with slightly in that he is totally clueless about teaching and this was presumably the only vaguely mathematical formula he could remember, and Mullins doesn't bat an eyelid when she walks into the room, even though the children are preteens. [[FridgeBrilliance (But of course, it's a prestigious prep school, so the kids would be]] ''[[FridgeBrilliance expected]]'' [[FridgeBrilliance to learn above their public-school counterparts.)]]

''School of Rock'' is a 2003 comedy starring Creator/JackBlack and Joan Cusack.

!! Tropes Used

* BlitheSpirit

* ChekhovsGun: Parent's Night is mentioned, Jack Black's character promptly forgets about it and does his own thing...and then half an hour later the plot element comes to fruition. And because he hasn't been planning, during that intervening half hour of plot, HilarityEnsues.

* ClownCar: Somehow Dewey manages to pack the entire class, plus instruments, into his van.

* CreditsBrandProducts: The open credits appear as various posters and on peoples' shirts in the bar.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Dewey telling the kid's parents what he taught their kids goes something like this: 'Math, science, uh.. geography, Latin, Spanish, French, Latin... Did I say math already?'

* EEqualsMCHammer: Dewey writes E=mc^2 on the board while pretending to teach the children something. Played with slightly in that he is totally clueless about teaching and this was presumably the only vaguely mathematical formula he could remember, and the school principal doesn't bat an eyelid when she walks into the room, even though the children are preteens.

* {{Expy}}: Jack Black is playing his exact same character from ''Music/TenaciousD'', only without the [[ClusterFBomb constant swearing]] as the movie is PG-13.

* FilmingForEasyDub: Instead of Jack Black, it's a guitar. [[spoiler:In the climax of the film, Jack breaks out a guitar solo, but his guitar NEVER faces the camera, so you don't see the necessary hand movements to perform said solo]].
** Possibly Lampshaded afterwards by Mullins asking him if that was really him playing. (It wasn't - the DVD commentaries reveal Jack Black doesn't really play electric guitar that well. Most of the guitar playing his character did was actually him miming to a pre-recorded guitar track. He does occasionally play himself, though, such as when teaching Zack the riff to "Smoke on the Water" by DeepPurple.)
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Dewey has priceless reactions on the words of the preteen kids. Summer's "I read about groupies, they're ''sluts''!" and Alicia's "I say let's get out of here and do the ''damn'' show." are famous examples.
-->'''Dewey''': What are the good things when you're in the rock band?
-->'''Eleni''': Getting wasted?
-->'''Dewey''': (bewildered) What? N...No!
* GenreKiller: This movie more or less killed the inspirational teacher sub-genre in favor of a variation of AdultsAreUseless using teachers. Newer attempts at relaunching the genre (''FreedomWriters'', ''LarryCrowne'') have failed in favor of films inspired by this (such as ''BadTeacher'').

* GogglesDoNothing: Freddy wears a pair during the Battle of the Bands, RuleOfCool most likely.

* HeyItsThatGuy: MirandaCosgrove before ''DrakeAndJosh'' and ''Series/ICarly'' as Summer.

** Waita minute that principal sounds a LOT like [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory2 Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl]]

* LittlestCancerPatient: Exploited by Summer, who gets all the kids to act as though they are all terminal [[spoiler: in order to earn them a spot at the Battle of the Bands]].
* TheMan: Ms. Mullins. [[spoiler: Later subverted - she actually only became tightly-wounded because she feels powerless against the constant, strident demands of over-protective parents.]]

* MeddlingParents: All of the kids have them. Granted it's a high-profile school.
* MediumAwareness, NoFourthWall: Only during the credits.

* PlayingAgainstType: Joan Cusack is even pointed out to be doing this on the DVD commentary, playing the uptight principal of a school.

* [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "The Reason]] [[CrapsackWorld The World Sucks" Speech]]: "Give up, just quit, because in this life, you can't win. Yeah, you can try, but in the end you're just gonna lose, big time, because the world is run by TheMan. The Man, oh, you don't know the Man. [[BigBrotherIsWatching He's everywhere]]. In [[PresidentEvil the White House]]... [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil down the hall]]... Ms. Mullins, [[{{Bifauxnen}} she's the Man]]. And [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Man]] [[GlobalWarming ruined the ozone]], he's burning down TheAmazon, and he [[KickTheDog kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank]]! And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man. It was called [[ThePowerOfRock rock 'n roll]], but guess what, oh no, the Man ruined that, too, with a little thing called [[TakeThat MTV]]! So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool or pure or awesome 'cause the Man is just gonna call you [[YouSuck a fat washed up loser]] and crush your soul. So do yourselves a favor and just GIVE UP!"

* SeriousBusiness: "One great rock show can change the world."

* TakeThat: There was one against Meg White of TheWhiteStripes, for her minimalistic drumming style.

* WaxingLyrical: When Dewey is trying to bluff his way through a conversation with teachers while posing as a substitute, starts reciting snatches from WhitneyHouston's "Greatest Love of All". Someone asks "Isn't that a song?", and he denies it.

* EverybodyOwnsAFord: All the parents' cars are Volvos. Probably done for laughs, not ProductPlacement, unless Volvo itself has a sense of humor about its' stereotypical owners.

* InsultBackfire: Frankie says "Ms Mullins, you're TheMan" and she replies "thank you, Frankie" without knowing what they really mean.

* HeyItsThatGuy!: MirandaCosgrove before ''DrakeAndJosh'' and ''Series/ICarly'' as Summer.

* {{Expy}}: Jack Black is playing his exact same character from [[TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny Tenacious D]], only without the [[ClusterFBomb constant swearing]] as the movie is PG-13.

* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Dewey has priceless reactions on the words of the preteen kids. Summer's "I read about groupies, they're ''sluts''!" and Alicia's "I say let's get out of her and do the ''damn'' show." are famous examples.

* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Dewey has priceless reactions on the words of the preteen kids. Summer's "I read about groupies, they're ''sluts''!" and Alicia's "I say let's go ahead and proceed with the ''damn'' show." are famous examples.

* FauxreignPronounciation: One-shot joke. "Actually, it's Shnay-blay."

** Waita minute that principal sounds a LOT like [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl]]

* StepfordSmiler: Ms Mullins is an arguable inversion as she is forced to act like a strict authority figure when inside she longs to be able to have fun and be funny.

* TheMan: Ms. Mullins.

* LittlestCancerPatient: Exploited by Summer, who gets all the kids to act as though they are all terminal.

* GirlishPigtails: Marta, one of the back-up singers. She had them braided and below the jaw line in a dreary, bored fashion (the dull uniform doesn't help), until the very end at their concert where [[ExpositoryHairstyleChange they're high up and loose]].

* ChekhovsGun: Parent's Night is mentioned, Jack Black's character promptly forgets about it and does his own thing...and then half an hour later the plot element comes to fruition. And because he hasn't been planning during that intervening half hour of plot, HilarityEnsues.

''School of Rock'' is a 2003 comedy starring JackBlack and Joan Cusack.

* BottleFairy: Ms. Mullins. Just add "Edge of Seventeen" as BGM.

* TheCameo: If you've never heard of these guys, you'll miss it, but TheMooneySuzuki are briefly seen backstage at the battle of the bands. Sammy James Jr., the lead singer, co-wrote the song "School of Rock" for the movie along with Mike White.

''School of Rock'' is a 2003 comedy starring JackBlack and JoanCusack.