Rock School Reviews

Paul Dale
The List
April 26, 2019
Filmed verité-style, Argott's film can hardly lay claim to the greatness its subjects clearly aspire to. Most of the time it comes across as a kind of amateur version of The Bad News Bears.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5
Top Critic
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
July 8, 2005
So overpowering is Green's outsized, needy, arrested-adolescent personality (while you initially suspect he's playing for the camera, the blas attitude of his students suggests he really is like this), it throws the movie off-balance.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4
Top Critic
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
July 8, 2005
Their playing is terrific, but there's little doubt the kids are fulfilling Green's fantasy rather than the other way around.
Original Score: 2.5/4
Sean P. Means
Salt Lake Tribune
June 24, 2005
The movie seems a little too much in love with the overbearing and self-aggrandizing Green - almost as much as Green is with himself.
Original Score: 2.5/4
Jeff Otto
IGN Movies
June 14, 2005
A school of talented future musicians, but the film is weighted by their blowhard instructor.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
June 12, 2005
Paul Green seems more interested in what rock school can do for him than for the kids.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
June 7, 2005
Has its moments, but unlike the music Green wants his students to play, it's no classic.
Full Review | Original Score: C+
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com
June 5, 2005
Director Don Argott works with muddy, low-quality digital video, not compellingly edited, and doesn't dig as deep as he should.
Full Review | Original Score: C
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
June 4, 2005
Bring back Jack Black and forget this.
Original Score: 2/5
Top Critic
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
June 3, 2005
Green is a grim martinet, given to chair-throwing tantrums and fits of temper that look suspiciously choreographed for the camera.
Full Review
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News
June 3, 2005
This flimsy documentary isn't rousing or particularly cute.
Original Score: 2/4
Top Critic
Ernest Hardy
L.A. Weekly
June 2, 2005
You root for the kids, who are utterly captivating, but Green is another story. His shtick -- a combo of insufferable stage-parent and unbearable rock geek -- is exhausting.
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly
June 1, 2005
I dislike the tyrannical tirades and profanity-laced psychology Paul Green uses to inspire his prodigal talent.
Original Score: '2/4'
Top Critic
Dennis Lim
Village Voice
May 31, 2005
Rock School ends up being a movie about just how little fun rock 'n' roll can be.
Akiva Gottlieb
Slant Magazine
May 22, 2005
There's something unsettling and downright Dickensian about Green's hard-knocks method and proprietary stance.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/4