BUT what can a poor boy do, 'cept play in a rock 'n' roll band...

Mick Jagger summed up every rock romanticist's quandary in Street Fighting Man and it's that very line that underpins Jack Black's homage to all things Rock and, indeed, Roll.

Dewey Finn (Black) has just been kicked out of his band and his old mate Ned (Mike White) is under pressure from his girlfriend Patti (Sarah Silverman) to put the squeeze on their house guest Dewey for some long overdue rent.

Desperate for cash, Dewey pretends he's Ned and takes a job as a substitute teacher at a posh elementary school.

Within days he has realised that the nerdy kids are also good musicians but know nothing of Dewey's twin totems of Rock and Roll. He sets out to educate them... his way.

Having rounded the kids up into a band - complete with security, management, designer and groupies - Dewey hatches a plan to get the kids into a battle of the bands contest hat could net him a few bucks... or at least a few moments in the spotlight.

It's Black's picture all the way. He hogs the camera which feasts on his screwball antics, everyman physique and mugging face. It's like John Belushi and Jim Carrey had a runt which refused to flee the nest.

Ever since his minor turn in The Cable Guy, Black has cried out for a crack at the top line. He all but pushed old mate John Cusack off the screen in High Fidelity, but fell flat in the messy Shallow Hal. Luckily, Orange County showed he still had plenty to back his early promise up (at least to the few who saw it) and The School of Rock shows he's more than capable of holding a picture on his own.

It's not the most sophisticated comedy of the season - neither is it the funniest - but The School of Rock delivers warm-hearted, inoffensive fun that plays to Jack Black's many strengths as a class clown.

See it at UCI, ABC