The Big Picture

Jack Black’s performance in School of Rock is the ultimate distillation of his comedic style, showcasing his classical confident-but-clumsy antics. Joan Cusack is equally phenomenal in the film, bringing fascinating life to the character of Miss Mullins, the head of the prep school where Dewey Finn works. Cusack’s portrayal of Miss Mullins is consistently hilarious, showcasing her ability to execute humor with concrete character work and adding depth to a character that could have been a stock stereotype.

When it comes to the 2003 film School of Rock, the performance everyone always praises is Jack Black as protagonist Dewey Finn. And why wouldn’t one heap endless praise on Black’s work here? It’s the ultimate distillation of his comedic style, as perfect a microcosm of a performer’s persona as Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby or Will Ferrell in Elf. With Dewey Finn, Black delivers the greatest iterations of his classical confident-but-clumsy antics. However, this personality, which is often quite hysterical, is extra engaging here because Black plays Finn as being sincerely invested in the lives of the kids he teaches. Other actors would’ve suffocated this character in cynicism and man-child vulgarity. Finn is flawed and often selfish, but he’s also totally believable when he’s giving pep talks to the various youngsters about their issues.

Black is utterly masterful in School of Rock, and even in a career that’s delivered way more interesting work than he gets credit for — Bernie hive, rise up! — it still stands as his greatest achievement as an actor. Even though Black is the captivating star of the show here, though, he’s not the only actor to excel in School of Rock. There’s another person here who does far more than rant about Shamu being trapped in a chlorine tank. That person is none other than Joan Cusack, who lends such fascinating life to the supporting character of Miss Mullins, the head of the prep school Dewey Finn begins working at.

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Who is Joan Cusack’s Miss Mullins in ‘School of Rock’?
Image via Paramount Pictures

When audiences first meet Joan Cusack in School of Rock, it does seem easy to imagine where her character is going to go. She’s introduced as being adherent to rules, a clear contrast to the shaggy free spirit that is Dewey Finn. Ruling the Horace Green prep school with a strict grasp, Mullins’ personality is reinforced early on in a scene where she reprimands a very young girl who has gotten out of line. After speaking firmly to the youngster, Mullins goes in to offer comfort, only to have the child run out of her office screaming. It’s an interesting and amusing moment because it does establish that Mullins has garnered a fearsome reputation that puts rules and “order” above all else.

However, she also doesn’t come across like an adult figure in a Roald Dahl children’s book in this scene. She’s firm, but there’s a light twinge of tragedy in how she can’t be seen as potentially comforting to the kids she’s overseeing. Cusack’s light depiction of disappointment in the face of Miss Mullins immediately makes it clear to viewers that there’s more going on with this character than just being an obstacle in Dewey’s path. We see a brief flicker of Mullins wanting to be something more than the fire-breathing reputation she’s garnered at Horace Green.

Shortly afterward, Finn, in an attempt to get permission to take his students out to an audition for a band competition, coerces Mullins to a bar. Here, Finn hopes to get her drunk enough to sign off on a “field trip” for his students. Mike White’s screenplay wisely uses this detour as a chance to lend some specific personality to Mullins, as she becomes enamored with the song “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks blaring on a nearby jukebox. What’s lovely about this moment is the way Cusack portrays Mullins not as someone who needs to be “educated” about rock music by Finn, but rather someone carrying subtle glee about the fact that she can finally divulge her story about seeing Nicks at a concert years ago. Cusack’s delivery of phrases like “whacked!” or her initially stilted dancing in her seat to the tune of “Edge of Seventeen” endearingly communicate the idea that Miss Mullins is a fleshed-out human being who just hasn’t had the chance to explore that side of herself recently. She’s a little rusty, but the younger lady who was enthralled by that Stevie Nicks concert is still in there.

Finn may get his permission to oversee a field trip through this sequence, but audiences get the delightful treat of seeing Joan Cusack thrive in her role as Miss Mullins. A subsequent scene where Mullins opens up to Finn about how she’s “become a B!” continues Cusack’s gift for executing humor with concrete character work. She’s so good at making Mullins a consistently recognizable figure even as we uncover groovier layers of this individual. Somehow, Cusack’s even better at tickling one’s funny bones. Just watch the subtle ways she moves her body and hands as she sings along softly to the words of “The Edge of Seventeen.” If you can’t giggle at that, then I’m not sure what you’re capable of laughing at!

Joan Cusack Only Gets Funnier as ‘School of Rock’ Keeps Going
Image via Paramount Pictures

Once Dewey Finn’s scheme of being a fake substitute teacher gets uncovered. Joan Cusack, thankfully, doesn’t vanish from School of Rock. On the contrary, Miss Mullins keeps going down her path of being a more rebellious spirit after previously defining herself as a disciplinarian. In arguably the most hysterical moment from the entire movie, Mullins cements her more loosey-goosey tendencies by relaying to a crowd of parents (whose kids have skedaddled to recruit Finn for a band competition) that “I’ve just been informed that all of your children are missing!”

Cusack punctuates the final words of that sentence with a flippant shrug that suggests the sentiment “what’re ya gonna do?” that perfectly compliments the cadence of her voice. It’s such a funny line on its own merits, but Cusack’s delivery of it is exquisite. Right there, one can see that the journey of Miss Mullins is complete. She’s gone from making kids cry to engaging in a chillaxed attitude over youngsters going missing. Afterward, Cusack continues to be a riot as she portrays Mullins navigating the world of a super punk rock scene. Her moment where she stands next to and tries to carry a conversation with a beefy dude wearing minimal clothes is especially hilarious thanks to Cusack’s perfect portrayal of Mullins being flustered yet trying to persevere in her social decorum.

There’s really no end to the joy of Joan Cusack’s hilarious performance in School of Rock, which, thankfully, isn’t forced like so many other major female characters in dude-centric comedies to just serve as a love interest for the male protagonist. Miss Mullins never becomes a prize for Dewey Finn to secure, she’s allowed to just be a separate character with her own life. Committing to that individuality offers Cusack so much room to lend a discernible personality and an abundance of comedic flair to a character that could’ve been a stock stereotype in weaker hands. It’s no mystery why Jack Black’s performance in School of Rock gets so much praise, but let’s also give a round of applause to Joan Cusack’s similarly tremendous work.