I stumbled upon a movie on TV the other night starring the handsome, and now married, Ryan Reynolds. I’ve been smitten with Reynolds since Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place.
The movie I’m writing about was a made-for-TV movie titled School of Life (2005) and starred Reynolds as Michael D’Angelo. It also starred David Paymer as Matt Warner, John Astin as Matt’s father, Norman Warner, and Andrew Robb as Matt’s son, Dylan Warner.
Photo source: www.moviegoods.com
School of Life is about a teacher who moves to a town and shakes up the old school way of doing things.
Before I get into the details of this movie, I will advise you that there is a couple of SPOILERS in this blog post. But even though I give you the ending of this movie, please watch it for yourself. You will not regret it.
Norman Warner (Astin) and his son, Matt Warner (Paymer), both teach at Fallbrook Middle School. For years, Norman has been selected as “Teacher of the Year”. When Norman dies, Matt thinks that he is a shoe-in for the annual award because he is Norman Warner’s son. Matt’s son, Dylan (Robb) is a student at the school and is, at first, embarrassed by his father.
On the first day of school, Michael D’Angelo is introduced as the new history teacher.
Photo source: www.blueray-disc.de
Mr. D, as his becomes affectionately known by both the students and faculty, is quickly becoming everyone’s favorite teacher. He takes over as coach of the boy’s basketball team and although they lose every game, they still still have winning attitudes. As Dylan Warner put it, “We lose a rebound, we cheer. We lose a shot, we cheer. On the odd chance we score, we cheer!”
Clyde: Uh… 30 points.
Michael D’Angelo: Thirty goals *and* thirty points? Okay, so we have no chance of winning this game. But are we all having fun?
Photo source: www.movie-roulette.com
Mr. D’s popularity begins to drive Matt Warner crazy. Matt follows Mr. D around town in an effort to find any flaw, but learns that Mr. D is hiding a “big secret” — he has inoperable lung cancer. (Oops… Spoiler Alert #1)
This secret has a profound effect on Matt, who immediately changes his way of teaching and in the process, starts to win over his students.
Photo source: www.blueray-disc.de
The day after Matt follows Mr. D around town, he shows up in the classroom and asks the students what they want to do that day in class. One young student asks if they can join Mr. D’s class. He says that’a great idea and he then leads his class to Mr. D’s classroom.
Matt Warner: Mind if we join you?
Michael D’Angelo: [dressed as an Indian Chief] All tribes welcome. Hear me, my chiefs. My heart is weak… it’s sick. Though the flesh may turn to dust, my soul will stand strong and soar higher than ever before, like the distant echo of a beating drum, breathing life like the wind. Part of all living things. Now and forever.
Soon Mr. D stops teaching because of his worsening illness and Matt steps in to cheer the student’s spirits. In the last game of the basketball season, Matt gives all the players a wrist band with the initial “D” on it in honor of Mr. D. Matt then leads the basketball team to a victory with a special guest appearance with 30 seconds left in the game by Mr. D.
Spoiler Alert #2 — The film concludes after three years have passed and Matt’s own son is now in high school, and Matt is teaching a brand new year of pupils in his life science class. He has won the Teacher of the Year for the last two years, Mr. D having won the award in the school year of 2003. The art teacher, Ms. Davies, inherited Mr. D’s car. The film ends with a close-up of a photo in Matt’s classroom of himself, Mr. D, and the basketball team with “Michael D’Angelo 1967-2003” inscribed on the bottom of the frame. (Source: Wikipedia)
Photo source: www.eurotv.us
This movie is a good lesson on life and is very family-friendly. Also, there is no foul language (meaning, no curse words). I would highly recommend it for family movie night, or for teachers to show in their classroom.
I would say that this is one of my favorite Ryan Reynolds’ movies. It came out after Van Wilder and Blade: Trinity, but before Waiting… and The Proposal.
If you haven’t seen this movie, I would recommend you rent it just for the feel-good factor! No one is too old or too young for good life lessons… besides “life’s greatest lessons are taught outside the classroom.”
Have you seen School of Life? What is your favorite Ryan Reynolds’ movie? I’d love to hear from you!
Yours Truly,
Vanessa