Like Journey, the band central to this film, “Mr. Rose” is an incredible waste of time that doesn’t go anywhere. Sappy and slightly existentialist in tone, the film holds viewers’ attention, but never does anything with it — again, like Journey.
Mr. Rose (Fred Leeds) is the stock model long-haired music teacher whose middle school class doesn’t give a rat’s a*s about the magic of Journey’s cancerous “Open Arms” song. Being the “rebels” they are, the boys of the class change the “open arms” lyric to “open legs,” thus causing Mr. Rose’s blood to boil as he berates his students and withholds doughnuts in an attempt to find out who started the lyrical assassination. And, as is the case in most schools, the loner (Chris Marmo) is the one who takes/receives the blame.
Dynamics between kids and authority figures make for wonderful stories when they are handled properly. “Mr. Rose” is not one of those stories. Writer Jay Giampietro refuses to advance to the plot to an interesting conclusion and substitutes pointless yammering for an explosive climax. With the amount of tension the movie creates in its first twenty minutes, it seemed quite plausible that somebody would end up dying, and that would’ve made this a picture worth seeing.
When it comes to “Mr. Rose,” save your time and catch a half hour of Maury Povich’s show instead. At least then you’ll see teens who are really out of control, and it’ll be amusing!
