The Musical is the feature directorial debut of actor Giselle Bonilla (Freedom Writers, Grey’s Anatomy), and it is the kind of low-key indie comedy that cinema used to get by the barrelful in the 2010s. Even though it has its fair share of flaws, it is nevertheless a welcome return to a shrinking subgenre.
The Musical follows failed-playwright-turned-middle-school-theater-teacher Doug Leibowitz (Will Brill, a recent Tony winner for Stereophonic), whose life goes from bad to worse when he is rejected for a fellowship around the same time that he finds out that his coworker Abigail (Community star Gillian Jacobs) – with whom he had a brief fling before she decided to take a “break” – is dating Principal Brady (Rob Lowe). He decides to thwart Principal Brady’s goal of earning a Blue Ribbon by staging a musical so top-to-bottom offensive that the entire school will be in hot water.
The Musical Shines When It Focuses On The Titular Show
From the very first moment that Mr. Leibowitz’s students appear onscreen, it becomes clear that their scenes will be the most enjoyable of the movie. The infighting and complicated dynamics among classmates putting on a play are perfectly heightened in The Musical, and it feels like these sequences take place in a beautifully warped pocket universe where everything is 50% more melodramatic than it needs to be. That’s exactly what a middle school theater program actually feels like.
The child performers themselves are quite up for the challenge, particularly Melanie Herrera as overachiever Lata and Nevada Jose (Paramount+’s Wolf Pack) as Mr. Leibowitz’s type-A assistant director, Mikey. She manages to make Lata’s increasingly surreal outrageousness feel perfectly natural, while he brings real pathos to Mikey. In fact, the best moment of the movie is watching Mikey’s discomfort with a car’s seat warmer playing out silently on Jose’s face.
[The Musical] essentially asks what 2003’s School of Rock would be like if Jack Black was a genuinely bad role model.
These characters are brought to life with such a keenly well-observed verisimilitude that they are believable even though they are essentially just a collection of stock “theater kid” characters. Anyone who’s been a student in an American middle school will instantly relate to their early scenes, particularly the moment when they are restlessly waiting in the hall as Mr. Leibowitz is running late, and one student is confidently repeating the pervasive urban legend that if a teacher doesn’t show up within 15 minutes, they’re all legally allowed to leave.
The fact that these young characters are so grounded also helps with maintaining suspension of disbelief during the more ludicrous turns that the plot takes – it essentially asks what 2003’s School of Rock would be like if Jack Black was a genuinely bad role model.
Following Doug Makes The Musical A Sour Slog
Unfortunately, The Musical isn’t about the kids at all. While the students are a major factor in the plot, the movie is entirely focused on following Doug’s exploits. Brill brings the character to life well, but Doug is a mean-spirited, miserable, incel-coded figure who is a noxious onscreen presence. The movie’s depiction of his behavior obviously does not imply endorsement, but his story fails to be entertaining enough to be worth depicting in the first place.
It doesn’t help that Gillian Jacobs is saddled with a completely empty character who has no life of her own beyond reacting to Doug or Principal Brady. While one excuse for this could be that she is being presented through the main character’s limited, misogynistic perspective, it robs her of any opportunity to be funny or charming. Lowe fares better, putting a fun twist on his Parks and Recreation character, Chris Traeger. He takes Chris’ prettyboy cluelessness and laces a vicious, serpentine quality underneath that makes him a meaty villain for Doug to square off with.
Ultimately, one’s mileage with The Musical will depend entirely on one’s tolerance for watching a bitter man-child lash out at the people around him. The only sizable laughs come from Doug’s interactions with his students, while the somber, leaden adult-led scenes that form the crux of the movie’s character study just lie flat and slowly rot in front of you. While the film as a whole is watchable, it’s worthwhile only for the parts that channel Hamlet 2, not those that feel like finding a weeks-old tuna fish sandwich at the back of the teacher’s lounge fridge.
The Musical releases in theaters on September 18.
- Release Date
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September 18, 2026
- Runtime
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87 Minutes
- Director
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Giselle Bonilla
- Writers
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Alexander Heller
- Producers
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Rob Lowe, Greg Lauritano, Findlay Brown, Jordan Backhus, Alexander Heller