Maybe Jack Black Should Stick to Singing

I loved Jack Black in High Fidelity. Loved him. Loved the whole movie, but really loved him, loved the way he talked about Evil Dead 2; the way he gently handed "Blonde on Blonde" to a benighted customer, telling him it would be alright; the way he sang "Let's Get it On." The honeymoon's been slowly bleeding to death ever since.

The Tenacious D album was disappointing. More than half the album was made up of comedic skits or half-formed songs that you could really only listen to about once. "Kielbasa Sausage," "Tribute," and "Wonderboy" are all pretty good -- though the last two were really, really overplayed, and I probably don't need to hear them ever again, as long as I live. But the good songs were actually good, and they worked both as parody and as straightforwardly enjoyable rawk, especially because Dave Grohl (the best drummer in the world! Nirvana!) was on the drums.

And Jack's been working on his actor credibility too. After cashing checks voicing talking animals in Ice Age and Shark Tale (a long way from Sonic Death Monkey, let me tell you), and appearing in critically slaughtered comedies like Saving Silverman, Orange County, and Envy, he may have decided it was about time to try a different genre. Since then, he's been in a fantasy epic, a relationship drama, a romantic comedy, and a Michel Gondry movie (which is sort of all three).

I completely agree with the decision to broaden his range -- he was a one-note comedic actor who was running out of ways to play the same character in the same crappy movie, and I approve of slumming entertainers trying something new for a change -- but it hasn't really helped. After watching Be Kind Rewind this weekend, I finally discovered the reason why: he's just not a good actor.

I'm probably one of the biggest fans of Peter Jackson's King Kong that there is, but in a terrific ensemble cast, Jack's the weak link. It's strange to see, amid the excellent ham jobs by Thomas Kretschmann and Andy Serkis, borderline racist cannibal natives, and a twenty-foot tall gorilla, Jack Black doing his best to be restrained. It doesn't really work.

Then there's his work in romantic comedies. The trouble with many popular Jewish comedians who move to romcoms -- I'm looking at you, Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller; sit down, Rob Schneider -- is that they tend to play emotionally stunted man-children, with really no texture or variation. Jack Black is no exception. Having already wooed a fatsuited Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hal, Black moved on to play one of the two romantic leads in The Holiday, playing opposite Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Cameron Diaz in what you might call casting against type.* Then he moved to the misanthropic Noah Baumbach's latest misanthropic teeth-gritter, Margot at the Wedding, and played more or less the exact same schlub.

Which brings us to Be Kind Rewind. As in High Fidelity, He plays another rude, ego-driven, knowledgeable and elitist clerk in a specialty shop selling vintage entertainment. (There it was vinyl, here it's rental VHS tapes.) And... again, he's just not quite right. Then again, neither is Mos Def, his opposite number. Miscast, overexposed, and uncertain of what tone to strike, Black is a microcosm for the movie itself. It's a movie that could be great, but just isn't quite. In that sense, it matches Jack Black, to neither one's credit.

On the other hand, he's a pretty damn great rock singer when he puts his mind to it. The best thing Jack Black has done since High Fidelity was one of my favorite songs of 2007. It's called "I Am the Warlock," and it was the hidden track on Dave Grohl's Probot album. That single song lived up to the entire promise of Tenacious D. At the end of a fun, enjoyable metal-fanboy homage, where Grohl hooked up with the lead singers from his favorite metal bands growing up and wrote songs for them... followed by three and a half minutes of silence... thundered the best damn song on the album. Jack hangs with the greats, hitting the perfect tone of reverance, gentle satire, and balls-out rock and roll.

"I whisper the ancient scriptures
I drink the blood of the lamb
And as I begin to levitate
This is the day of the damned!"

So... maybe Jack Black should just stick to singing. He's actually pretty good.

*I didn't actually see The Holiday; there's due diligence in research for a column, and then there's having to actually watch a movie by the woman who made What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give. You gotta have principles in this business.

Okay, I didn't see Margot at the Wedding either. Sue me.

Comments

[Guitarsandmore]

Here is the plot for School of Rock 2:

Some of Dewey"s old students are still with him but most have moved on. The after school of Rock program is not going that well but Jack is still being sent kids from different local schools and he continues to be a good band teacher.

There is one very hot female high school teacher Dewey notices sending over students and there is a chemistry between Jack and the teacher. But the teacher is not a Rock and Roller and so Jack puts the relationship on ice because he is a "purist" who values the Rock and Roll revolution above all else. (She likes Sarah McLachlan)

(This is the story of how Dewey grows up, broadens his horizons and interests, and let"s himself fall in love.)

Some of Dewey"s students are really talented but anti socials and as they come out of their shells finally (with Dewey"s help) their musical interests change and they become very talented but more traditional "straight" singers. Dewey is devastated because they drop Rock and Roll but his dedication to his students and his passion for teaching force him to go to the concert (begrudgingly) anyway. When he sees his young student getting standing ovation after standing ovation for singing Sarah McLachlan songs it makes him rethink his own position and open up the possibility of romance with the high school teacher. Dewey grows up.

This is the movie I want to see made and I'm not going to do it. Someone make this movie.

[AlexRemington]

You should probably see the documentary "Rock School," about a real-life school of rock. But just as a word to the wise, it's important to remember that sequels and remakes usually aren't a good thing.

[djg55555]

I noticed that you didn't mention "Nacho Libre" at all. Any thoughts on that one?

[AlexRemington]

None whatsoever. Do I get points for honesty?

[Guitarsandmore]

The best Jack Black movie was "School of Rock" hands down. Are you kidding me? What he should have done and still could do is make a "School of Rock 2" and broaden that character which perfectly fits his personality and talents.

My daughter can't get through the year without watching "School of Rock" several times and its a movie the whole family can watch and love.

"High Fidelity" staring John Cusack was a good movie but Jack was not the star. Jack Black is the STAR of "School of Rock" and rightfully so.

[LeftRight]

I'm sorry, I gotta disagree with you. John Cusack may have been billed as the star of High Fidelity, but Jack Black STOLE that title from him!

[whillice]

If only Mos Def and Jack Black "re-shot" Be Kind Rewind, that might be damn good movie. Those remakes were awesome: Ghostbusters, Robocop, etc-- just great. The rest of the movie.......enhhhhhh..........

Too bad, since michelle gondry made one of the best movies of the last 10 years: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

So sad, so much wasted talent. Kinda like Eliot Spitzer......

[AlexRemington]

I agree with every word you wrote.

[JohnnyCanuck99]

so.... he's limited as a dramatic actor, you hear? why would you knock him for two movies you didn't see him in? That was a whole tangent in your piece here. You could have ditched it, or quoted someone who saw the flicks if you didn't want to watch them yourself.

[AlexRemington]

That's a completely fair point, of course. So, here's a paraphrased quote from a female friend of mine who did see The Holiday: "I thought the Jack Black/Kate Winslet half was cute. The Jude Law/Cameron Diaz half was absolutely terrible." Keep in mind, this is a girl who likes romantic comedies. I'm a red-blooded male. The odds of me disliking that movie were 100%.

Margot at the Wedding? Again, fair point. But if he sucked in Be Kind Rewind, King Kong, Orange County, Anchorman, half the skits on the Tenacious D album, and that crappy Oscar parody of Lord of the Rings, how much Jack Black genre-bending am I supposed to subject myself to just to keep re-proving a point?

[JohnnyCanuck99]

True, I was trying to think of good romantic comedies that really hold up.. then I had to turn to blog lists for help, and realized they really are insipid pieces of junk. (Romantic comedies, not necessarily blogs.) I was going to bring up Annie Hall as a trump card to prove my red blood wouldn't stop me from liking romantic comedies, but Woody Allen is kind of the exception that proves the rule. Jack Black, like pretty much all movie comedians has a really limited shelf life. You're right, he (like Sandler, Chevy Chase, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal) run out of steam. Or we get sick of their 'character'/shtick. Jack Black has reached his Funny Farm and Mrs. Doubtfire. I guess if he had been more careful and plugged hisself into more thoughtful movies he could have sustained better. But you're right he has done a bunch of crap. I wonder who today's Woody Allen or Bill Murray will turn out to be? Not Will Ferrell, Mike Myers, or Jack Black. --He was good in Bob Roberts.