The Power of Spite
“The thing about life is sometimes you win, but other times you watch your enemies steal what could have been yours.”
Gizelle Bonilla, making her feature directorial debut, and writer Alexander Heller, known mostly for his television work, give us a movie that is sure to become a new comedy cult classic.
In The Musical, Doug Leibowitz (Will Brill) sets the plot in motion with a vengeance. A southern California theatre teacher known as “Mr. L,” he is scorned by an unrequited love when his school’s politically correct principal (Rob Lowe) gets the girl (Gillian Jacobs).
His revenge? To ruin any chance of his school winning the much-coveted blue ribbon award for academic excellence.
“Everyone talks about the power of love, but nobody talks about the power of spite,” he says.
The movie follows Mr. L as he persists in his nefarious spiral, eluding every obstacle in his way. His loyal drama students help keep up the facade, embracing the mantra “The power of theater is the element of surprise.”
When his plans to become a playwright in New York are jeopardized, he becomes mentally unstable, further involving his students in his shenanigans. “There are two different types of people in this world: givers and takers,” he tells his students. “People who build fires and people who stay warm by the flames.”
As his goal comes to fruition, we are enthralled waiting to find out how it all ends. Ultimately The Musical is a funny satire on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the worry of offending any culture. It may well satisfy any inner yearnings to throw a cog in the wheel of “the machine.”
And it goes without saying that anyone who has ever been a drama student will get a big kick out of this movie.
Screenings of The Musical (West Coast Premiere, 84 minutes, USA, rated PG-13, in English) at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival April 23-28 are sponsored by D. Rosh Wright.