Whiplash

I totally dismissed this movie when it first came out a few months ago because I grew up in Texas and played sports, so I was already used to coaches being jerks and yelling at you for no reason at all. You simply learned to put up with these things because you wanted to go to the wild parties and get laid after the games. Well I only weighed about 97 lbs in high school so I still couldn't get laid even with sports and my Kid n' Play hair style, so I had no interest in seeing a kid attend some prestigious university in New York only to see him cry when his professor said he wasn't on time with the drums.

Give me a break dude; you play an instrument in New York City, all you have to do is walk around in Bushwick with your drumsticks and panties will be dropping on the sidewalk like dollar bills in the strip club. I guess I could have said dropping like panties in a strip club but it all depends on how dirty you're looking to get that night.

In either case, I eventually caved in and saw Whiplash because I kept hearing so many wonderful things about J.K. Simmons and his performance as the emotionally abusive sociopath Fletcher. Fletcher is the music director at the best music school in the nation and  he has a reputation that's well respected in the community and with the top symphonies in the country. So if you make under him, your career is basically set for life.

The thing is Flethcer doesn't just require greatness from his pupils, he requires absolute perfection, and if he gets anything less than that he verbally berates them until they are on the brink of public suicide. And believe me when I say that Simmons is terrifying in this role. The second he walks into the room, everyone stands at attention as if he's Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada. Their lives depends on what he thinks of them and they will stop at nothing to please him.

This of course includes his newest student Andrew (Miles Turner) who starts off as the quiet and shy alternate drummer in the band but the more Fletcher pushes him, the more confidence he gains. The issue is, he begins to alienate everyone in his life and he becomes so obsessed with achieving perfection that it's beginning to affect his life in a negative way; and in some instances even puts his life at risk.

Simmons should win the Oscar for this performance as this role could make Fletcher an icon in movie world just as Miranda has become one because of Devil. Miles is adequate as Andrew but I will give him props for learning to play the drums at such a high level. Some of the things he does behind the kit are unimaginable.

The music is great in this movie and the intensity is high. What I liked in particular is that you have to decide for yourself whether or not Fletcher is simply trying his best to create the next Charlie Parker or if he is indeed just an abusive bully who has a complex. The movie gives you plenty of support for both.

I don't know if it should be up for Best Picture of the Year but it certainly was enjoyable. I rate it as very FRESH!