An Unfocused Movie Until the Final Scene

Mr. Holland's Opus is, in some ways, a continuing saga of movies about teachers inspiring goof off kids. 1995 also saw Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer do this, though she did it with a more focused plot and in the ghetto. The Opus movie takes place in the 60s, and proceeds to take us through decades of kids who can't play music that well, but are "inspired" by their somewhat muted teacher.

Dreyfuss was nominated for an Academy Award for this performance, though I think voters were more so touched by the final 10 minutes then by his acting overall. It's okay. I wasn't particularly overwhelmed with emotion, and this could be because the movie is way too long - and like another movie I just reviewed, Mermaids (1990, with Winona Ryder), has WAY too many subplots to keep up with. In this case, it's a class that hates classical music, on top of a cruel Principal (William H Macy), on top of a bland wife, on top of a deaf son, on top of- on top of. I just couldn't care as much because the scenes are drawn out, and the dialogue is a little flat. It reminded me of Music of the Heart (1999), with Meryl Streep playing the violin teacher in Harlem. The speeches she gets are sort of sub-par. There's no "Wow" moment.

Except the last 10 minutes. That was Wow. When we see one of Opus's former student's who struggled to play her oboe, suddenly appear in the auditorium as the Governor of the town. And to ask him to conduct one last time. Because the budgets are getting rid of the music program he was a part of for 30 years. That was good.

But the rest of the picture is a drawn out vanilla fest, that feels cramped and PG rated for sure. This deaf son business. That was a total letdown. The actor who plays him seems a bit out of sync. When Dreyfuss breaks the news to his son that John Lennon died, the son acts like its no big deal. It most certainly WAS a big deal. Shame on the son (and wife) for making Dreyfuss feel like a doofus for bringing this up.

There's also an affair that he has with one of his female students. She sings like she's on Broadway. One evening she beckons him to meet her at the bus station to go to New York. Together. He shows up, kisses her, and at the last minute backs out. "You pack light", she sobs. What a life he would have had if he had chose to go with her to more exciting pastures, then to stay in that hillbilly town that fires him after all those years of hard work.

What did Mr. Holland actually teach his students? The morals are not in full view. In an earlier scene he scolds the class for failing a music test. The students appear stupid and not very bright. But there's no closure. We never find out why they failed, or why they don't feel the need to try harder. We just skip to the next year and the next.

Overall this movie should have been trimmed by an hour and Ronald Bass, who penned movies like Stepmom and Braveheart, should have come to the writing table to help spice up the otherwise quiet dialogue.

FINALE GRADE: C-