Using his high school teaching experience as impetus, director Mike Akel made
Chalk to encourage school reform through enlightening viewers to the challenges teachers face. This comedic mockumentary capitalizes on four teachers' frustrations during the course of their school semester, by interviewing them individually as well as placing them together in scenes depicting faculty meetings, school spelling bees, and happy hours at a local bar. Allegedly real, though clearly ironic in the style of Christopher Guest's
Waiting for Guffman or
Spinal Tap,
Chalk's characters expose themselves as actors through subtle hints, such as when P.E. Coach Webb (Janelle Schremmer) states her heterosexuality outright in her introduction to the camera. Later, Mrs. Reddell (Shannon Haragan), a teacher struggling with her promotion to Assistant Principal, clumsily breaks up a schoolyard fight with physical comedy reminiscent of the Three Stooges. Two history teachers, Mr. Lowrey (Troy Schremmer), the bumbling beginner, and Mr. Stroope (Chris Mass), who aggressively pursues the Teacher of the Year award, act as polar opposites to illustrate how neither whimpy coddling nor harsh militarism will work in the classroom. As Lowrey complains in the teacher's lounge that someone has stolen his yogurt from the fridge, Stroope's in the field shooting cans to blow off stress. Ultimately, the comedy makes way for touching scenes showing Mr. Lowrey's major improvement, and the realization that America loses many of its best teachers to messy academic infrastructure, lack of teacher support and financial hardship, making
Chalk entertaining but also politically astute.
--Trinie DaltonCustomer Review: skip this one
Morgan Spurlock has given us so many great movies. Can't believe he has anything to do with this one, since it's so bad. The concept is hilarious, but it goes on, and on, and on...and ON. Seems like it never ends. The characters have a seed of interest and potential, but nothing that is interesting to watch for a full movie. Got this because I saw the preview and thought it was a real documentary. It's not. It's a mockumentary, much like Spinal Tap. That would be great, if it was funny. It's not. Good concept, but not well done. My advice is to skip that one.
Customer Review: Slow and Boring.
I could see the potential in this movie but I found this to be a little shallow. The history teacher made my head ache watching him try to communicate. The gym teacher annoyed the hell out of me, just watching her made me cringe. The Math teacher was moderately entertaining but at the same time way too egotistical. The only one who interested me was the PA and that's mostly because she is gorgeous. I don't know I think it could have been much more entertaining with better stories and I felt it jumped around too much. It was a pretty boring mockumentory. A better movie would have been the PA and her husband going at it.
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