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CHALK
Directed by Mike Akel.
Written by Akel & Chris Maas.
Produced by Akel, Angie Alvarez & Graham Davidson.
Director of Photography Steven Schaefer.
Edited by Bob Perkins.
Music by Chris Jagich.
Released by Arts Alliance America.
Country of Origin: USA. 105 min. Rated PG-13.
With: Troy Schremmer, Chris Mass, Janelle Schremmer & Shannon Haragan.

Fifty percent of teachers quit within the first three years on the job according to Chalk. Writers Mike Akel and Chris Maas have channeled their experiences as high school teachers into a feature comedy to explore why. The result’s naturalistic, very naturalistic, so much so that you wonder if some of the cast members were handpicked out of a real teacher’s lounge and cafeteria. Whether or not this always works for the sake of comedy will depend on how much deadpan a viewer can take.

Over the course of one school year at Harrison High School, we meet two history teachers: the fresh-faced and awkward rookie Mr. Lowrey (Troy Schremmer) and the ambitious and testy (no pun intended) third-year Mr. Stroope (Chris Mass); as well as the strictly-by-the-rules Coach Webb (Janelle Schremmer); and newly appointed assistant principal Mrs. Reddell (Shannon Haragan), who works so late she hasn’t had sex with her husband in three weeks.

Having lost control of his classes, Lowrey reads up on class management, belatedly discovering his sense of humor in the classroom, while Stroope (in one of the best and most revelatory scenes) gently reprimands one student after class not to answer so many questions in class – it makes him look stupid.

Taking the form of a mockumentary (as the press notes say, in the tradition of Christopher Guest and, more recently, The Office), Chalk’s amiable, and only once in a while truly scathing in its view of the teachers’ anxieties. There are only little bits that spark big laughs (i.e. Stroope’s freak-out after losing the Teacher of the Year title, when he exclaims, “There is NO second place if there are only two people involved”), with the rest simply being amusing. Perhaps there’s almost too much affection for these characters for the film to be a sharp satire, and while it’s never very tedious, you might find yourself checking your watch to see when class ends (yes, bad pun intended).

DVD Extras: An introduction precedes the film from Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock, who offers up an anecdote about how his whole family were or are teachers, leading to his personal attachment to what he saw in Chalk; a behind-the-scenes look from the New York premiere with a few amusing clips from the film’s shoot (the “piano” joke, which is one of the funniest); two PSA’s, which may or may not have been shot by the filmmakers as a goof; a short film, which is really a deleted scene with Mrs. Reddell and a former would-be prom date; and commentary by Akel and Maas. Jack Gattanella
September 25, 2007