THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601200064
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
YOU DON'T HAVE to stay at home and tune in to Turner Classic Movies or American Movie Classics to see a sentimental movie. You can go out to the theaters and see ``Mr. Holland's Opus,'' which is about as old-fashioned as jaded Hollywood is likely to get any time soon.
By 1996 standards, this movie about 30 years in the life of an ordinary high school music teacher is unashamedly schmaltzy. It boldly broadcasts how we should feel at every moment. The music score tells us when to be sad, and when to lighten up. The characters are often familiar stock creations.
In spite of all this, I still liked it.
Audiences are going to be willingly manipulated by this film. They're going to come out of the theaters feeling better about life in
America than they did when they entered. That might be schmaltz, but it's something we don't get very often at the movies lately.
Richard Dreyfuss would not have been my choice for the role of Mr. Holland. To borrow from Shakespeare, Dreyfuss has ``a lean and hungry look.'' Perhaps it is the brash, loud and overbearing parts he's played in the past that initially work against his being transformed into Mr. Chips. He works steadily, however. And with the help of a script that beats us into submission as much as it cajoles us, he eventually comes out looking something like a saint.
There are several believable transgressions along the way. Holland starts out as a frustrated pianist who can't make a living in lounges. He abhors young people in general and hates the idea of becoming a teacher. But he has to pay the bills. He puts on a mask of sweet pretension to fool the parents and faculty. Eventually, he is intrigued by the challenge of teaching classical music to his barbaric charges.
His awakening is ours. Olympia Dukakis is used too little as a tough principal who initially sees him as a cynic but watches him evolve into a good teacher. One wishes her part were expanded.
Shot at a Portland, Ore., high school, the film is overly long. But we learn to float along with it because it pushes buttons of memory. There is the Vietnam War and protests. Then the death of John Lennon. Then Holland is reprimanded for teaching his students to play rock 'n' roll.
On the personal side, Holland is married to a supportive though sometimes harried wife portrayed by Glenne Headly. She's a little young for Dreyfuss, but all these age changes eventually keep us guessing as to who is supposed to be what age at what time. The couple's son turns out to be deaf - a tragedy he tries to deny at first, but finally accepts.
For a time, he devotes all his energy to his students and his once-disliked career. Then he learns to divide time between work and family.
He is tempted by a luscious student named Rowena. She is played by newcomer Jean Louisa Kelly, who photographs like an angel. Plus, she has a voice that is perfect for the Gershwin standards she sings as the class stages a revue.
Kelly, who has a lead in the upcoming film version of ``The Fantasticks,'' should become a star. Her scenes are among the freshest in ``Opus.''
There is comedy, with the football players volunteering for the musical show. And there is sadness. There are no true villains and very little unpleasantness.
Dreyfuss is likely to get an Academy Award nomination out of this. It will be only his second. He is one of the few to win an Oscar for his only nomination. He is not likely to win this time, however, because the academy voters will find it difficult to take this film seriously.
It's too long and there is a major mistake in actually letting us hear the opus that Holland has supposedly been composing all those years. Maybe no composition could have lived up to all this fanfare but this one is, actually, pretty bad. Michael Kamen's composition for the rest of the score is emotionally on target. Even though we might wonder that Holland spent all his life composing a bit of junk, there will be little doubt that his life was worthwhile.
MEMO: ``Mr. Holland's Opus'' is playing at: Cinemark, Greenbrier 13,
Chesapeake; Janaf, Norfolk; Commodore, Portsmouth; Kemps River,
Lynnhaven 8, Pembroke, Surf-n-Sand, Virginia Beach.
ILLUSTRATION: COLUMBIA/TRISTAR
Richard Dreyfuss is an aspiring composer who takes a teaching job to
support his wife (Glenne Headly) and family in "Mr. Holland's
Opus."
"MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS"
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Olympia Dukakis
Director: Stephen Herek
MPAA rating: PG (mature subject matter; little that is
objectionable)
Mal's rating: ***
by CNB