Sundance Film Review: The crash-out of the century in ‘The Musical’
“The Musical” was a slightly inappropriate, extremely funny story about a man who is completely losing it. Doug is a middle school theater teacher who finds out his ex-girlfriend, the art teacher, is now dating their boss: Principal Brady. Directed by Giselle Bonilla and starring Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs and Rob Lowe, this film made me wheeze-laugh from the second row of the Holiday Village Cinema. Warning: There will be spoilers ahead.
When Doug Leibowitz finds out his co-worker and ex-girlfriend is dating their boss, he sees it as his personal mission to get back at the both of them — mostly Principal Brady. The preteen students he teaches are supposed to be practicing for “West Side Story” after school, but upon Doug’s realization, they switch musicals. Their new production, titled “Heroes,” instead focuses on 9/11.
The only hiccup is no one can know what they are truly doing in the school auditorium after the final bell rings. To keep this the case, Leibowitz casts “West Side Story” and instructs the students that “the superpower of the theater is the element of surprise.” Everything seems to be going fine until Brady calls him into his office.
Toting his Stanley cup, Brady lets Leibowitz know he’s going to have to start sitting in on theater rehearsals, keeping a watch on what’s going on since Leibowitz assigned a white girl to the Maria role in “West Side Story.” That completely messes with the plan, and they are forced to adapt to keep their secret production under wraps.
Not only does Brady need to keep an eye on what’s going on, he’s also going to play an active role while doing it. This sets him up perfectly to continue to direct “West Side Story” when Leibowitz has to go on a leave of absence — caused by punching the aforementioned principal straight in the face.
The film climaxes on the opening night of what is supposedly “West Side Story” with Brady giving a speech on the power behind a musical about two groups of people who need to be more understanding of each other. Cue the shock and horror when the curtains open and there is a young girl dressed like Mayor Rudy Giuliani, plotting to crash a plane into the Twin Towers, students running around dressed like U.S. Army soldiers and a sign that says “Welcome to Afghanistan” rather than “Welcome to New York.”
Leibowitz watches the entire humongous blow-up from the catwalk of the theater, then returns to his small apartment victorious. I was recently talking to someone about what defines a real “crash-out,” and I would say that Doug Leibowitz takes the cake for that one.
The film concludes with a sequence highlighting Leibowitz’s ability to follow his dreams — he lost his teaching license and didn’t get a New York City playwriting fellowship, but he did write a play based on events that happened to him at his old job, and the audience got to see the beginnings of what looks like another crash-out of epic proportions.
“The Musical” thrives on the willingness to be outrageous. Bonilla never reins in the unraveling of Doug Leibowitz, instead letting the chaos spiral into something very uncomfortable and kind of funny. It’s the kind of film that makes you chuckle before you realize that maybe you shouldn’t be laughing at all.