movie review of whiplash

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"Whiplash" is cinematic adrenalin. In an era when so many films feel more refined by focus groups or marketing managers, it is a deeply personal and vibrantly alive drama. Damien Chazelle has taken a relatively staid subject like the relationship between a music student and his teacher and turned it into a thriller built on a brilliant undercurrent of social commentary about what it takes to make it in an increasingly competitive and cutthroat world. How far are you willing to push yourself to succeed? How far are you willing to push someone else to force them on the path to success? Carried by two electric performances, the tightest editing in a film this year and a daring screenplay that writes itself into a corner and then somehow finds an unexpected way out, "Whiplash" is as breathless as a drum solo, rising and falling just as the hopes and dreams of its protagonist climb and crash.

A young man named Andrew Neyman ( Miles Teller ) is practicing late at night at his New York music school, one of the best in the country, when his drumming catches the ear of the infamous Mr. Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), the most important teacher at the school and the conductor for its most important jazz band. Fletcher pauses, listens, barks a few orders at the young man, and moves on, seemingly dissatisfied with what he heard. Andrew had his chance, that one brief moment many of us have to impress the people who can change our lives, and he didn't cut it. He goes back to his routine class band, telling his dad (a wonderfully genuine Paul Reiser ) that his opportunity to move up probably passed him by.

Of course, Fletcher's dismissal of Andrew in that first scene is just the first of many examples of what could politely be called his "teaching style." Fletcher likes to tell the apocryphal story of how Jo Jones threw a cymbal at Charlie Parker's head one night when he messed up, thereby pushing him to the breaking point at which he became Bird. Without that cymbal, would music history be the same? Would Charlie Parker have gone home, refined, practiced and driven himself without the threat of not just failure but physical violence? Fletcher uses that kind of barbarous technique on his students: throwing furniture, calling Andrew names, playing mind games and physically torturing him with repetitive drum solos until he bleeds on the kit. But that blood feeds his musical passion. And Andrew blossoms, asking out the cute girl he's been afraid to talk to before, and taking first chair in the most important band at the most important music school in the country.

Miles Teller, so great in breakthrough roles in “ Rabbit Hole ” and “ The Spectacular Now ,” does the best work of his young career here as Andrew, finding the perfect blend of insecurity and confidence that comes entangled in the core of a young talent. Andrew is naturally apprehensive, but he also knows he has a drive, a passion, a skill that is unique. Teller walks that line, never faltering by making Andrew too confident while also carefully letting viewers see the spark within that Fletcher fuels.

As for Simmons, Fletcher could have been such a caricature in the wrong actor’s hands. An over-the-top, abusive teacher is a part riddled with pitfalls. Simmons falls into none of them. He walks such a line that, even after the kind of inhumane mind games and physical abuse that should produce legal charges has unfolded on screen, we find ourselves drawn to Fletcher. He’s not 100% wrong when he says that the most dangerous two words in the English language are “good job.” Whether you think it's the right approach or not, we’re in an era of praise, where encouragement is the teaching tool and every kid gets a medal for participation. Have true talents been left to wither because they were over-watered? Simmons perfectly captures the drive of a man who believes his abusive degree of pressure is the only way to produce a diamond.

While “Whiplash” would be a notable film purely for Teller and Simmons’ performances, it reaches a different level when one considers the execution of its tempo. Editor Tom Cross and cinematographer Sharone Meir often put us right on stage with Andrew and Fletcher, cutting and panning in rhythm with the beat of the drum. It is captivating, to say the least, particularly in a climax that produces more tension than any action film or thriller this year. The title refers to a song played multiple times throughout Chazelle’s film. It could also refer to that sense of wowed exhaustion you’ll feel when it’s over.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Whiplash (2014)

Rated R for strong language including some sexual references

106 minutes

Miles Teller as Andrew Neyman

J.K. Simmons as Terence Fletcher

Paul Reiser as Jim

Melissa Benoist as Nicole

Austin Stowell as Ryan

• Damien Chazelle

Director of Photography

• Sharone Meir

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Anatomy of a Scene | ‘Whiplash’

The writer and director damien chazelle narrates a sequence from his film “whiplash,” featuring miles teller and j. k. simmons..

By A.O. Scott

• Oct. 9, 2014

The world worships excellence and runs on mediocrity. Most of us are fated to dwell in the fat middle of the bell curve, admiring and envying those who stake out territory in the higher realms of achievement. There is a wide gulf between doing your best at something and being the best at it, a discrepancy in expended effort and anticipated reward that is the subject of “Whiplash,” Damien Chazelle’s thrilling second feature.

This story of an ambitious young striver and his difficult mentor could easily have been a sports movie, and structurally, it resembles one. There are montages of grueling practice scattered among scenes of tense competition, all of it building toward a hugely suspenseful (but also, to some extent, never in doubt) championship game moment of reckoning. But Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is a jazz drummer rather than an athlete, enrolled at a highly selective Manhattan school (Juilliard in all but name) and under the sway of a charismatic and terrifying instructor, Fletcher (J. K. Simmons).

Movie Review: ‘Whiplash’

The times critic a. o. scott reviews “whiplash.”.

Fletcher has a first name, but nobody has the nerve to use it, and in classic drill sergeant or gym teacher fashion, he calls his students by their surnames, generally in the course of browbeating and humiliating them. Progressive pedagogical methods have not penetrated the room where his studio band practices, a virtually all-male preserve of sarcasm, sadism and enforced virtuosity. There is nowhere Andrew would rather be.

Mr. Chazelle, a 29-year-old natural-born filmmaker whose previous feature was the stylistically daring, hipster-cute musical romance “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench,” has an aficionado’s ear for jazz and an offbeat sense of genre. He and the director of photography, Sharone Meir, give “Whiplash” the brooding, spooky look of a horror movie, turning the New York streets and the school hallways into a realm of deep, expressive shadows. There is an atmosphere of whispery menace, and Mr. Simmons prowls the screen with a vampire’s stealth and a killer’s wry half-smile. Fletcher is a seductive monster, swiveling from charm to nonchalance to violent rage with a snap of the fingers. The scariest words a studio band player will ever hear are “not quite my tempo.”

But Andrew eagerly signs up for Fletcher’s cult of perfection, though whether in the role of acolyte or human sacrifice remains in question for most of the movie. Andrew is not one for modest aspirations: He wants to vault beyond the masses of session guys and second-stringers into the pantheon, to keep company with Buddy Rich and Charlie Parker and the other giants of the art form. This makes him a bit insufferable, and Mr. Teller, adept at finding the ambiguous middle ground between self-confident nice guy and smug jerk, is not shy about demonstrating Andrew’s arrogance. (A recent interview in The New York Times suggests that he may share his character’s seriousness and self-confidence.)

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Whiplash review: JK Simmons achieves a ferocious, barbed intensity

Damien chazelle, 106 mins, starring: miles teller, j.k simmons, melissa benoist, article bookmarked.

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After Whiplash won Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing and Best Sound at the Baftas last night, here's our review:

You don’t think of jazz drumming as a rigorous academic discipline - but that is how it is portrayed in writer-director Damien Chazelle’s riveting Oedipal drama Whiplash.

There is barely a whiff of cigarette smoke here and sex, drink and drugs - staples of most jazz based movies - seem off limits too. Instead, the drama largely plays out in rehearsal rooms in the basement of a prestigious conservatory. Chazelle’s achievement is to bring a ferocious, barbed intensity to a film that could easily have seemed a claustrophobic and austere chamber piece.

Miles Teller plays 19-year-old Andrew Neiman, a young, ambitious jazz drumming student at the Shaffer, an elite music school. Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) is the school’s most ruthless teacher.

In Whiplash , the attitude toward music is akin to that toward dance in Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948). There is a famous scene in The Red Shoes in which the young ballerina (Moria Shearer) is asked why she wants to dance by the impresario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook.) “Why do you want to live?” she replies. This is an answer that would win Fletcher’s approval. He despises mere proficiency or “good work.” His philosophy is that to achieve true excellence, you have to practice, suffer, then practice more and drive yourself beyond the point of exhaustion.

Oscars 2015 nominations

Early in the film, we discover that one of Fletcher's best former students has committed suicide - just as the ballerina did in The Red Shoes . The teacher is upset but doesn’t feel any guilt. Fletcher makes frequent references to Charlie Parker, “Bird,” the legendary jazz saxophonist who died aged only 34. Parker’s early death is irrelevant. All that matters is the brilliance of the work - a brilliance, he claims, that Parker only achieved after a fellow musician threw a cymbal at his head when he was playing badly, humiliating him and thereby pushing him to better himself.

Fletcher is not interested in reason or “perspective,” which is what Andrew’s kindly but mediocre school teacher dad (Paul Reiser) likes to talk about. His job, as he sees it, is to use any means possible to push students to achieve more than is expected of them.

Chazelle makes music school seem like boot camp. Blood and sweat are spilled in fetishistic close ups as Fletcher roars at the young drummers to go “faster, faster.” He dresses all in black, which makes him look like a fascist torturer in a political thriller, trying to elicit the truth from a stubborn enemy spy. As soon as a student loses the tempo or plays a note out of tune, “rushes” or “drags,” he holds up his right hand - and everyone immediately stops playing as he harangues the unfortunate “squeaker” or yells at the “pansy-ass weeping and slobbering over my drum kit like a nine year old girl.”

The students behave to each other as if they’re on leave from Lord Of The Flies . They may be part of a band but there is no camaraderie between them.

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Whiplash could easily have seemed ridiculous. Fletcher’s abusive behaviour is for far beyond the pale that it is unthinkable either his students or the school authorities would tolerate it. Chazelle’s attitude toward creativity is romanticised. He peddles old clichés about the links between genius and suffering. The film portrays jazz musicians as strangely docile, compliant figures without the ability to improvise. The title itself (which refers both to a piece of music that is constantly played and to the car crash-like trauma that Fletcher’s students suffer) feels contrived.

What gives the film such a kick, in spite of its improbabilities, is its raw and brutal but also very subtle portrayal of the shifting, attritional relations between teacher and student, sorcerer and apprentice.

Andrew is desperate to win the approval of Fletcher. He yearns to be one of the “greats” but regards his teacher as the only arbiter whose opinion he can trust. Fletcher is endlessly cruel and sarcastic - and has a tremendous knack for vicious, expletive-filled put-downs. Andrew takes on Fletcher’s affectations the more time he spends with him. He even prepared to ditch his long-suffering girlfriend (Melissa Benoist), because she will get in the way of his career. As in all such Oedipal tales, the only way the student can emerge as a musician in his own right is by destroying the father figure.

The casting is crucial. With less sympathetic actors, Whiplash would have been difficult to endure. J.K. Simmons generally plays comic roles or kindly, genial types, for example the avuncular professor in recent Hugh Grant comedy, The Rewrite. Even here, the humanity flickers through. Andrew spies on him speaking to the tiny daughter of one of his old students with tenderness and humour. In another scene, he watches him play the piano in a nightclub. The teacher has a rapt expression on his face which makes his joy in the music obvious. The irony is that he is performing a schmaltzy number in an utterly unoriginal and banal way. He is certainly no “Bird” himself.

Miles Teller is an equally likeable screen presence who has played his share of laid-back romantic types in teen movies. You don’t expect him to portray such an obsessive figure as his jazz drummer here.

Chazelle leaves it up to us to decide whether this relationship between pupil and teacher is destructive or inspirational. Depending on your vantage point, the film either endorses the 10,000 hour theory written about by Malcolm Gladwell and others (the idea that genius is achieved by relentless practice) or demolishes it. What is clear is that in telling the story of the teacher and his pupil, Chazelle had driven himself to make a film that is dynamic, provocative and moving - and in which the emotional tempo never stops rising.

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Whiplash Reviews

Whiplash is a monster of a film, paced with a kinetic energy that moves like its own jazz piece.

Full Review | Jun 17, 2024

Here the classroom is the battlefield and dropping a drumstick feels just as devastating and crucial a moment as a grenade falling between your feet.

Full Review | Nov 6, 2023

This is as much psychological thriller as musical drama and it turns on the increasingly toxic chemistry between two clearly damaged people, to the exclusion of pretty much anyone else in the film

Full Review | Aug 19, 2023

What does it mean to be great? I loved Whiplash because Damien Chazelle highlights the blood, sweat and tears that come along with pure devotion to one’s craft; the hard work when nobody’s there to pat you on the shoulder. The final scene…wow.

Full Review | Jun 23, 2023

What is essentially a thriller about jazz introduced the world to the rare talents of Damien Chazelle...

Full Review | Apr 20, 2023

Not quite sure why there's so much hype and praise on this one. I did enjoy it and thought JK and Miles had good performances but I didn't love it the way so many others did.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 5, 2023

Fantastic performances that still hold up despite the problematic comments from J.K's character but he's meant to be that despicable, which is also why he won ALL the awards for this!

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 5, 2023

Damien Chazelle explores how much greatness is worth in Whiplash and manages to capture terrific performances in one of the best films of 2014.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 28, 2022

Putting everything into your art or sport of choice has been the theme of many a dramatic motion picture, but few pour out their passions with such volatile intensity as Whiplash.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 16, 2022

This is a rare treat combining remarkable acting, music, energy, and twists that will follow you out of the theater.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 26, 2022

There is not much to dislike about Whiplash. It is simply a pleasure to watch.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 14, 2022

The film is stifling, stressful and brilliant, delving deep into the psychological richness of what happens when an ambitious young person in a prestigious environment meets a volatile instructor...

Full Review | Feb 12, 2022

Chazelle orchestrates his first feature like a pro, utilizing a snappy pace throughout.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2022

The toxic mix of perfectionism, ambition and hubris meet in a perfect storm.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 2, 2021

It all ends on a triumphantly upbeat note that has the intensity to completely dominate every annoyance and dubious direction that came before it.

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Dec 4, 2020

What makes musical genius? Is it inherent, or does it have to be dragged kicking, screaming and bleeding from you?

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 26, 2020

Whiplash is exactly why films are made. It's powerful, moving, scary, gripping, thought-provoking, exhausting, inspiring and...in-%*@#ing-tense.

Full Review | Jul 18, 2020

J.K. Simmons completely owns his role. It's scary, bordering psychotic and worth his Oscar win.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 17, 2020

An energetic film about music, passion, sacrifice and the fine line between excellence and excess. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 28, 2020

The extraordinary thing about Whiplash, in addition to having a tremendous score, is that it plays the cymbals of the contemporary jazz scene with what would be masterful performances from Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 26, 2020

Review: ‘Whiplash,’ exquisite and painful, hits all the right notes

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Fear. Passion. Blood. Sweat. Tears. Pounding through the beat of a drum. Screaming in the crash of the cymbals. Fast, furious, raging perfection in bleeding hands, broken sticks, broken relationships, broken lives. Debris surrounding transcendent greatness. Ecstasy within the agony.

That is “Whiplash,” with an amazing Miles Teller on drums, a terrifying J.K. Simmons setting the tempo. A movie you feel as much as you see, and what you see is both exquisite and excruciating.

The story belongs to writer-director Damien Chazelle, his nightmare memories of high school, an intense time when the aspiring jazz drummer was driven to excel by a merciless teacher who favored verbal torture and humiliation to mold young minds. His telling of it earned the script a spot on the 2012 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays. When “Whiplash” played at the Sundance Film Festival this year it killed, winning the grand jury prize and audience award for drama.

Oscars 2015: Full coverage

It is one of those scorching films that burns through emotions, uses up actors, wrings out audiences. And the jazz, well, it has its own moments of brutal, breathtaking fusion.

The question Chazelle poses is whether psychological pain is the price of greatness. Does it take emotional scarring and physical extremes to push the talented to reach extraordinary heights?

In “Whiplash,” the answer lurks in the war room of a practice studio at the country’s top college conservatory. Teller is 19-year-old Andrew. Talented, ambitious, a first-year student determined to be the next Buddy Rich, Andrew lives with the legendary drummer’s music pouring through his headphones and his image staring down on him from a poster on the wall.

Nearly all his waking hours are tied to his art. He seeks greatness because he is haunted by failure — his mother left when he was a child; his father (Paul Reiser) is tortured by writing dreams that are nothing more than that: dreams.

Terence Fletcher (Simmons) is both god and the devil at the conservatory. A notoriously demanding teacher, he works only with the best. His rehearsals are boot-camp punishing, anything short of perfection is unacceptable; his retribution is excessive, abusive, in the winning-is-all, over-the-line way we see too often in society today.

Any fond memories you might have of a quirky Simmons (“Juno”), a whimsical Simmons, an empathetic Simmons, will cease to exist. The words “not my tempo” will strike dread, and not just in the hearts of his students. Fletcher’s words carry the same fearsome power whether a whisper or a shout. He can move from punisher to benefactor, grimace morphing into approving smile in a heartbeat. Simmons has never been better.

Nor has Teller.

He’s proved himself to be a fine actor in a string of roles that, after seeing “Whiplash,” you know shortchanged him. As Andrew fights for a spot on Fletcher’s studio band, Teller fights his way into the actor he is meant to be. It’s impossible to list all the elements in the emotional and physical arc he nails from the beginning to the end of the movie, but he arrives at the finish fully formed.

The actor, whose cocksure smile and bedroom eyes have carried him a long way already, treats “Whiplash” like a proving ground. He had some experience on drums. Long weeks of practice paid off with a riveting performance. You believe he felt every sweat-soaked moment, that the bloody hand torn by the sticks, plunging into the ice, was reality, not effects.

So many of Fletcher’s demands, especially for his drummer, are tied to tempo. The same could be said for Chazelle. The filmmaker begins with a black screen and a beat — banging the drum slowly. Darkness gives way to a long, empty corridor. Framed though a doorway at the end is Andrew and the drums. They are so tightly linked in that moment, the creative exchange so focused, it seems the only thing that matters.

Until another door opens and Fletcher walks in. Does the kid interest him? Or is he just one more student to torture? The rest of the film will work its way toward that answer.

The shooting, editing, sets, sound and lighting are exceptional; only what is essential remains. Credit director of photography Sharone Meir, editor Tom Cross, Justin Hurwitz on music, Melanie Paizis Jones’ production design and an indie budget for the bare-bones effect, but it suits.

Fletcher and Andrew are like fighters circling each other, the older a master of mind games, the younger imbued with talent, possible genius, without any idea yet how to channel that power. And when blows begin, they are relentless. The many times and many ways Andrew hits the mat before he walks away or fights back becomes the central emotional arc. The question is who will be the last man standing. The strange synthesis of clarity and ambiguity in the way Chazelle addresses it is both unnerving and intriguing.

These sorts of standoffs and power games have given us some truly great films — Duvall in “The Great Santini,” De Niro in “This Boy’s Life” come to mind. Now “Whiplash” will too.

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------------

MPAA rating: R for strong language, including some sexual references

Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Playing: ArcLight, Hollywood; AMC Century City; Landmark, West Los Angeles

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Sundance Film Review: ‘Whiplash’

J.K. Simmons lands the role of his career as a conservatory conductor who drums the fear of failure into his students

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Miles Teller drums his heart out — and then some — in writer-director Damien Chazelle ’s stellar career-starter, “ Whiplash ,” which demolishes the cliches of the musical-prodigy genre, investing the traditionally polite stages and rehearsal studios of a topnotch conservatory with all the psychological intensity of a battlefield or sports arena. Chazelle proves an exceptional builder of scenes, crafting loaded, need-to-succeed moments that grab our attention and hold it tight, thanks largely to co-star J.K. Simmons as the school’s most intimidating instructor — a talent evidenced a year earlier by the three-scene teaser that took Sundance’s top shorts prize.

The short was partly the brainchild of producers Jason Reitman and Jason Blum, whose hopes that “Whiplash” might break out beyond the niche confines of staid young-musician movies were boosted significantly by its high-energy opening-night berth at Sundance. Substitute its jazz-band specialty for hip-hop, and the commercial prospects would skyrocket — though it’s plenty accessible to all as executed.

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“Whiplash” is not about drumming, after all, but rather just how far someone will go to be the best. Teller’s 19-year-old Andrew descends from a long line of mediocrity (embodied by his far-from-competitive father, played by Paul Reiser), but he is determined to add his name to the short list of widely known jazz greats. Andrew is certainly dedicated enough, practicing until his fingers bleed on more than one occasion. Despite his junior status as a first-year student, Andrew manages to catch the ear of Terence Fletcher (Simmons), who offers him a seat in his band.

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From the opening scene, Chazelle (who made his feature debut with 2009’s low-budget jazz musical “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”) makes it known that Fletcher has the power to launch — or cut short — young careers, introducing Simmons’ character smoldering sans cigarette in shadows straight out of film noir. Owing more to R. Lee Ermey’s tough-love drill sergeant from “Full Metal Jacket” than he does the genre’s typical positive-reinforcement pap, Fletcher is even more intimidating in front of the studio band, where he lets fly torrents of emasculating and openly homophobic invective directed against any and all who disappoint. The character is capricious and cruel, making him a volatile force in Andrew’s life, even in scenes where the conductor isn’t physically present.

One naturally assumes that talented musicians play for the sheer pleasure of their art, but “Whiplash” suggests that fear is far and away their best motivator. For those seeking perfection, one tiny slip threatens to jeopardize the ensemble as a whole. As a result, Fletcher’s strategy is to humiliate the stragglers in front of the entire group — the sort of abuse more commonly associated with locker rooms and war movies, whose high stakes Chazelle brings to bear on this more civilized arena.

“There are no two words more harmful than ‘good job,’” Fletcher confides at one point, explaining how encouragement breeds complacency. By contrast, fear of verbal abuse — or the occasional flying chair — keeps the musicians on their toes, and Simmons has no trouble performing the vitriolic putdowns that the role requires, channeling some of his old “Oz” persona. By contrast, the unsung supporting cast does wonders with little dialogue, letting subtle body language convey the intensely competitive dynamic, where “core” players perform while alternates turn their pages.

For most of the ensemble, music is everything. Instead of incorporating subplots for the sake of it, Chazelle zeroes in on Andrew’s attraction to Nicole (“Glee” newcomer Melissa Benoist), the concession-counter gal from his local movie theater. Andrew is painfully shy at first, but success at school gives him just enough confidence to initiate a conversation, which leads to a pair of follow-up scenes biting enough to have been written by Aaron Sorkin, as Andrew calculates that dating would merely get in the way of his dream.

Apart from the occasional high-concept camera move, Chazelle generally steers clear of imposing a heavy style on his story. Simmons’ outbursts certainly command the lion’s share of the attention, though the helmer borrows Bob Fosse-style jump cuts to inject real excitement into a world that many associate with PBS fodder. “Whiplash” has a built-in advantage in that it’s set in the world of jazz competitions, where Fletcher likes to keep the tempo set as high as 300 beats per minute. That energy comes through in Teller’s hyper-physical performance — yet another radical departure for an actor who’s been out-transforming nearly everyone in his generation. Here, he starts too shy to exchange more than a few words with Nicole and reaches a point where he’s effectively pouring out his subconscious onstage.

Meanwhile, as much fun as Fletcher is to watch, his behavior is nothing shy of monstrous, and one can sense the clash brewing between the conductor and his new favorite student far in advance. Surface intrigues aside, however, the film is ultimately about a rivalry not between Andrew and his instructor, but between the promising teenage drummer and himself. Adversity helped create Charlie Parker, and Chazelle’s highly entertaining experiment asks whether such rejection breeds greatness, and if so, at what cost?

Reviewed at Sundance Film Festival (competing), Jan. 16, 2014. Running time: 106 MIN.

• Production: A Bold Films presentation of a Blumhouse/Right of Way production. Produced by Helen Estabrook, Jason Blum, Michel Litvak, David Lancaster. Executive producers, Jason Reitman, Couper Samuelson, Gary Michael Walters. Co-producers, Garrick Dion, Stephanie Wilcox, Sarah Potts.
• Crew: Directed, written by Damien Chazelle. Camera (color, widescreen), Sharone Meir; editor, Tom Cross; music, Justin Hurwitz; music supervisor, Andy Ross; production designer, Melanie Paizis-Jones; art director, Hunter Brown; set decorator, Karuna Karmarkar; costume designer, Lisa Norcia; sound, Thomas Curley; supervising sound editors, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann; re-recording mixers, Mann, Wilkins; visual effects supervisor, Jamison Goei; visual effects, Ingenuity Engine; special effects coordinator, Zachary Knight; stunt coordinator, Mark Riccardi; line producer, Mark D. Katchur; associate producer, Phillip Dawe; assistant director, Nicolas D. Harvard; second unit director, Harvard; casting, Terri Taylor.
• With: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang.

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Summary Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), a young jazz drummer who attends one of the best music schools in the country under the tutelage of the school’s fearsome maestro of jazz named Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), struggles to make it as a top jazz drummer.

Directed By : Damien Chazelle

Written By : Damien Chazelle

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A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential. A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential. A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.

• Damien Chazelle
• Miles Teller
• J.K. Simmons
• Melissa Benoist
• 1.7K User reviews
• 544 Critic reviews
• 89 Metascore
• 98 wins & 144 nominations total

Top cast 58

• Jim Neimann

• Carl Tanner

• Uncle Frank

• Dorm Neighbor

• Bassist (Nassau)

• Assistant - Sophie

• Pianist (Studio Band)
• Saxophonist #2 (Studio Band)

• Trumpeter #1 (Studio Band)
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Did you know

• Trivia The director and writer of the film, Damien Chazelle , could not get funding for the movie, so he instead turned it into a short film and submitted it into the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. The short film ended up winning the Short Film Jury Award, and he got funding soon after.
• Goofs When Fletcher throws the chair at Neiman, the guitarist is behind Neiman in the first shot then missing in the second, probably removed to avoid being hit by the chair.

Terence Fletcher : There are no two words in the English language more harmful than "good job".

• Connections Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Tyler Perry/Miles Teller/Lucinda Williams (2014)
• Soundtracks Overture Written by Justin Hurwitz Courtesy of 5AM Music, Ltd.

User reviews 1.7K

• Jan 27, 2014
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• October 15, 2014 (Philippines)
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• Official site
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• Tay Trống Cự Phách
• Santa Clarita, California, USA
• Blumhouse Productions
• Right of Way Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $3,300,000 (estimated)
• $13,092,000
• Oct 12, 2014
• $49,449,489

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 46 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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Miles Teller Pounds the Skins, and Takes a Beating, in Whiplash

The title Whiplash is dead-on. That’s what it is; that’s what it gives you. Miles Teller plays a young drummer, Andrew Neyman, who announces to anyone who’ll listen that he wants to be “one of the greats.” Long into the night, he thumps on his drums, blisters opening, blood smudging his sticks. The movie charts his education/torture at the hands of an instructor named Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons), who conducts the elite jazz band at the Manhattan conservatory where Andrew is a new student. Film has a long (dis)honor roll of sadistic teachers and drill sergeants, but few have looked like they were getting as much of an erotic thrill out of brutalizing (or outright destroying) their charges. In the course of a gut-­twisting, appalling two hours, writer-­director Damien Chazelle has you wondering two things at once. Will Andrew finally succeed in wowing this most exacting of judges? And, more important: What can be gained by doing so when the man is manifestly psychotic?

As a go-for-it music movie, Whiplash is just about peerless. The fear is contagious, but so is the jazz vibe: When Andrew snatches up his sticks and the band launches into a standard—say, Hank Levy’s “Whiplash”—it’s hard not to smile, judder, and sway. Teller was a drummer as a kid and does all the character’s playing, so Chazelle doesn’t have to hide his hands. The camera sweeps toward ­Andrew from the side, arcs around him, pulls back, zooms in. The style is keyed to the tempo—it’s as if Chazelle were extending the music into space. Except for the occasional grimace, Teller’s face is rapt: He’s playing, he’s not acting playing. And when he isn’t playing there’s no wasted motion. Andrew is keeping his head down, conserving his energy. Early on, he courts a college girl (Melissa Benoist) who works at the refreshment stand of a revival cinema, but he drops her—coldly—when he thinks she might become a distraction. The conservatory is now his entire universe.

As Chazelle presents it, that school is not a social place—no kibitzing, no empathetic glances, only glumness and the terror of being replaced in a snap by someone else. Simmons’s Fletcher materializes in the doorway of his class like a vampire, the skin on his bald dome taut. The ridges in his sallow face are deep and hard, like the belly of a frog fresh out of formaldehyde. There’s no fat on him—he’s all teeth and dome and sinew. As an actor, Simmons is usually self-contained to the point of spookiness, but his Fletcher is so inscrutable he’s blood­curdling. Suddenly, he’ll be warmly attentive, telling Andrew that the key is “to just relax, have fun,” asking about his family, making sympathetic noises as the young man explains that he grew up with his dad after his mom moved out. A moment later, Fletcher is taunting Andrew in front of the band and attacking his father’s masculinity. (Some audiences have been taken aback by Fletcher’s homophobic slurs, which are baroque.) He hurls chairs; makes students play until they bleed; screams, “If you deliberately sabotage my band, I’m going to fuck you like a fucking pig!”

His behavior is monstrous, but the question hangs: Does Andrew at this point need a “bad” father? Andrew’s real dad (Paul Reiser) is a soft, mild presence, a man who watches black-and-white movies and sprinkles Raisinets on his popcorn. He loves Andrew unconditionally—which is just what we want from a parent, right? The absence of such unconditional love fuels billions of hours of therapy and is the root of a thousand unreadable memoirs. But to go to the next level, does an artist need to fear being shamed? Fletcher likes to hold forth about the teenage Charlie Parker, who fled a Kansas City jam after drummer Jo Jones threw a cymbal at his head, vowing to be back—only better.

Whiplash will spark debate—some of it angry—over whether, in the end, Chazelle is vindicating Fletcher’s methods, suggesting that only a harsh taskmaster can push Andrew to the next level. I don’t think he’s that conclusive. But he’s certainly leaving the question open. When you read Jan Swafford’s exhaustive new Beethoven biography or listen to world-class musicians or Olympic athletes talk about their driving parents and lack of a “real” childhood, you see how pushing kids to the brink can in some cases pay off. It can also—more often—be inhuman, soul-killing, even criminal; it can screw people up for life. I know a woman whose gorgeous soprano was destroyed by an abusive teacher. And I know actors who went further than they ever thought possible under directors who played sick games with their heads. A good dramatist doesn’t need to reconcile these two sides, only bring them to life.

At the end of Chazelle’s audacious, low-budget debut feature, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009), the protagonist, on the verge of losing his lover, plays a long, plaintive, increasingly desperate and discordant trumpet solo. He’s pushing against the limits of his talent, maybe the limits of his soul. Where art is concerned, Chazelle doesn’t believe in going after something within reach. He wants to push the limit—by any means necessary. His heroes are artists-existentialists: They create themselves anew every day, beating the drums and bleeding on them.

*This article appears in the October 6, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.

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Denzel Washington's Violent Action Thriller Becomes Netflix Global Hit 10 Years Later

Jason statham's $397m movie from last year secretly set up a perfect sequel, convincing bowser theory promises 8 more villains in the super mario bros. movie 2, whiplash is a tense (but somewhat hollow) psycho-thriller that features a ferocious performance to remember from j.k. simmons.

Whiplash stars Miles Teller as Andrew Neyman, a 19-year old whose big dreams of becoming a great jazz drummer lead him to attend the Manhattan-based Shaffer Conservatory, which is generally considered one of the best music schools in the U.S. (maybe even the world). Hence when Andrew, a first-year student, is selected by Shaffer's top instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) as a new drum alternate for Fletcher's band, the young musician is both in awe and terrified at the same time.

However, Andrew quickly learns that Fletcher's quest for perfection knows no bounds, nor does his willingness to emotionally, verbally, and sometimes even physically abuse his students until they achieve greatness. Andrew pushes himself to extremes in order to meet Fletcher's high standards, but it soon becomes hard to tell if Fletcher is trying to launch Andrew into the stratosphere... or get him to burn up during takeoff.

Written and directed by Damien Chazelle ( Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench ), Whiplash is a film that examines what it takes to achieve greatness as an artist; and thus, brings to mind such recent movies as Black Swan , thematically speaking. The difference is that Darren Aronofsky's film is a psycho-drama about its protagonist's descent into madness, whereas Chazelle's picture is more a psycho-thriller focused on a battle of wills between two people with an unhealthy father/son-like relationship. At the end of the day, though, both films have similar strengths and weaknesses.

Chazelle uses some of the same techniques that Aronofsky is known for, in order to bring the story and world of Whiplash to life. That includes the use of quick cuts and extreme closeups of unpleasant details (be it trumpet players emptying their spit valve or Andrew's hands bleeding as he drums) as well as melodramatic facial closeups. Combined together with dynamic camera movement showing the onscreen action, and that approach is able to maintain a stifling and intense atmosphere throughout the film, no matter what is happening. Stylistically, Whiplash  succeeds as pure suspenseful filmmaking, by pulling viewers into Andrew's isolated and anxious mindset.

... Unfortunately, Whiplash comes up a bit short, when it comes to being a layered work of storytelling. Whereas a recent film like Birdman is insightful as both a movie about the experience of being an actor and, on a deeper level, a story about more universal themes, Whiplash doesn't have a whole lot to say about music or jazz - the subjects it's examining on the surface - and its story about the cost of greatness, as indicated before, is both familiar and somewhat thinly drawn. Mind you, Whiplash is very much a watchable and engaging film, but it's better as a thrill ride than a meaningful piece of storytelling, especially as things start to get increasingly ridiculous (in terms of plot developments) along the way. In other words, there are style over substance issues here.

That said, the element that really makes Whiplash  so compelling is J.K. Simmons, who delivers quite the terrifying performance - reminding everyone that he is one of the best true character actors around. Fletcher, with his bulging eyes and ability to change from kindly paternal figure to foul-mouthed monster in the blink of an eye, is easily on of the year's most memorable characters, thanks to Simmons. There are times when Fletcher starts to become somewhat cartoonish, but thanks to Simmons it's hard to say for certain much of Fletcher's behavior is  meant to be an act - to either inspire or comfort those around him - and how much is just, well, who he is.

Miles Telller takes a break from playing cocky, fast-talking, young men with his role in Whiplash , as the softer, introverted, and ungainly Andrew - nevertheless, it's yet another fine performance from Teller. Thing is, there's not a whole lot to his character; Andrew's quest to achieve greatness is given some development, but beyond that he's a bit too much of a blank slate before he starts going over the edge (Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan has a similar problem).

There's also a romantic subplot featuring Melissa Benoist ( Glee ) that's meant to look at "the price" that Andrew pays to pursue his dreams, but that story thread is a bit throwaway. Similarly, Whiplash takes a few steps to juxtapose the Andrew/Fletcher dynamic with Andrew's relationship to his actual father (Paul Reiser), but in the end it doesn't add a whole lot in the way of depth to the film's protagonist or his personal quest. To be clear, though, Benoist and Reiser both play their parts well and serve the purpose they're assigned in the larger narrative (somewhat flimsy it may be).

In summation? Whiplash is a tense (but somewhat hollow) psycho-thriller that features a ferocious performance to remember from J.K. Simmons. It has the style befitting a movie that could be called a modern-day Hitchcock thriller, but not the substance; nor does its present its central argument - about the price that must be paid to become a legend (or "the cost to be the boss" as James Brown put it) - well enough to make someone reconsider where they stand on the issue. Nonetheless, Whiplash is quite an entertaining cat versus mouse game to watch.

Whiplash is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide. It is 106 minutes long and is Rated R for strong language including some sexual references.

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Directed by Damien Chazelle, Whiplash follows Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a first-year music student at a prestigious New York City conservatory who becomes the target of abuse by one of his instructors, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). As Andrew works harder to impress Fletcher, their increasingly hostile relationship sends his life into a tailspin.  Paul Reiser and Melissa Benoist star alongside Teller and Simmons. 

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Whiplash Review

16 Jan 2015

106 minutes

Trying to make a thriller about jazz is like trying to make a horror about puppies; you are starting with a subject that inspires, in most people, the exact opposite of the emotion you’re going for. Yet Damien Chazelle has done it. With just one short and one feature on his imdb page, he has made a heart-thumping drama about percussion. He has made a sports movie with no sports, but plenty of balls.

In the tradition of great thrillers it has an ordinary man trying to best a much trickier foe, and like great sports movies it has a rookie intent on winning everything. It just finds those things in a place nobody usually looks. Andrew (Teller) is a talented, but cocky, drummer who wants to join the best band at his music college. The only way to do that is to catch and hold the eye of Fletcher (Simmons), the conductor/coach, who expects those on his team to meet his high standard or get the hell out. And why shouldn’t that be thrilling? Tension is just hoping for the best while expecting the worst. Chazelle yanks your heart into your throat waiting to see if a man will nail a drum roll, because he directs like everything’s at stake. In the music room his camera flashes around catching blood, sweat and tears. Andrew drums until his skin cracks open. Nothing is still. Nobody is settled. You’ll probably leave the cinema in need of a massage.

Taking nothing away from Teller’s all-in performance, this is Simmons’ film.He’s always been one of the best, but now, finally, a script has caught up with him. Fletcher’s a rumbling, black-clad storm of a man, ready to rain hell down on Andrew when he’s less than his best. And Simmons really relishes those moments, barking out lines like, “If you deliberately sabotage my band, I will fuck you like a pig". He’s terrifying, yet not really a villain. Chazelle keeps the roles shifting. Is Fletcher, who believes in rewarding greatness not effort, worse than Andrew, who believes wanting is the same as deserving? We never know for sure whether Andrew is as good as he believes he is. It pulls you in, tighter and tighter, by asking you to constantly see the other side.

Whiplash is so close to faultless that its one stumble is frustrating. Having kept its rhythms perfect for the entire first hour it bangs a bit too hard when Andrew reaches his breaking point, proffering up about five minutes that stretch the bounds of dramatic credibility. The film doesn’t need obvious melodrama because it’s shown how much you can make without it. But five minutes of self-indulgence and another 100 of ovation-worthy hits is a great ratio for any performance.

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Whiplash review – the Full Metal Jacket of jazz drumming

JK Simmons is thrillingly brutal as a pop-eyed drum teacher – but does this very watchable classroom drama have anything deep to impart? JK Simmons on Whiplash: ‘The whole macho thing never goes away’ How Whiplash kills the cheesy pupil-mentor genre stone-dead

I f Facebook’s Marc Zuckerberg took jazz drumming lessons from Dr Hannibal Lecter, the result might look like this. That’s the Dr Lecter, incidentally, who kills and eats a flautist in the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra for being out of tune.

Whiplash is a study in the misery and cruelty that’s always involved in teaching a musical instrument at the highest level: it’s outrageously watchable, very well acted, slightly preposterous, and nowhere near as desperately important as it thinks it is. Watching this film is like listening to a very extended, bravura jazz drum solo. You marvel at the flash, the crash, the technique – and finally wonder where exactly it is all going, and when and how it is going to end. Where does a teacher’s inspirational discipline and provocation cross the line into abuse? There is some thrilling classroom brutality and operatic dysfunction, though Whiplash perhaps jazz-drums itself into a bit of a corner. For me, it revived (happy) memories of testy Mr Shorofsky and frizzy-haired Bruno Martelli in Fame.

At the film’s centre is Mr Fletcher, a terrifying jazz teacher at a top New York academy; he is also the conductor of an elite student band, whose competition recitals are attended by the top talent scouts. Fletcher insists on the highest standards, and woe betide any student who lets him down by so much as a millimetre: he will berate and humiliate such a person like the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. Fletcher is played with bullish, pop-eyed belligerence by JK Simmons , wearing black jeans and black T-shirt of a style that was cool for youngsters in Fletcher’s own distant youth: weirdly, he looks like an ageing version of the gay teen hipster in Clueless. Writer-director Damien Chazelle shows how Fletcher’s music and his attitude embody from the outset a fundamental dissonance. You might think that jazz is all about freedom, relaxation and letting it all hang out. But oh no. Jazz is taught here with the same uncompromising formal severity as Bach, and Fletcher looks quite as messed up as Isabelle Huppert’s imperious Erika in Haneke’s The Piano Teacher.

He meets his match, or possibly his ideal pupil, in the form of Andrew, a would-be jazz drummer played with self-possession and flair by Miles Teller. Andrew has a closed, unresponsive expression, as if his whole being has been swallowed inward in concentration and absorption. He has an intense dedication to nurturing his own world-beating talent and status, which makes him emotionally vulnerable to attack. The film’s very first scene shows him hammering out a solo and something in it catches the ear of Fletcher, who capriciously interrupts this practice and instantly starts playing mind games with Andrew. His pupil-victim now has to master Hank Levy’s complex piece Whiplash, with its freaky 7/4 and 14/8 time signatures: the title acquires an awful additional significance. It is for him what Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto was for David Helfgott. And all the time Fletcher challenges him, needles him, sets him up, knocks him down. Pushed to breaking point, Andrew never knows what to do. Is it a test? Should he defy him? Obey him? Which would win his respect?

JK Simmons is brilliant at Fletcher’s scariest rehearsal mannerism: demanding that an errant pupil stop playing immediately by raising his hand and clenching his fist, like a Roman emperor signalling for someone to be decapitated. The film’s nastiest scene has him doing just this because a student is playing out of tune: a misdemeanour punished in the most appalling and arbitrary way. He looks like he has everyone’s balls in his fist, and this is a very alpha-male drama, with just one female musician visible, casually and offensively accused of owing her position in the band to being cute. As for Andrew, he has other people in his life: his dad (Paul Reiser) and Nicole (Melissa Benoist), a girl at a neighbouring college that he asks out on a tentative date. But these relationships are entirely subordinate to his quasi-father and quasi-seducer: Fletcher.

We are entitled to wonder if Fletcher is supposed to be an out-and-out villain, but also if that ambivalence is intentional. Is Whiplash taking us on a narrative journey basically similar to that of Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada? Well, Chazelle naturally allows you to suspect this, with dark revelations muted in the interests of keeping alive the positive dimension. There is arguably an unintended mismatch between the positive and negative interpretations of Fletcher’s behaviour, although also something heroic in the film’s final apparent attempt to resolve this tension musically. Concussion merges with percussion. It’s a film with impact.

JK Simmons on Whiplash: ‘The whole macho thing never goes away’

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Home » Movie Reviews » Whiplash Movie Review: A Timeless Warning for Where Damien Chazelle Is Heading

Whiplash Movie Review: A Timeless Warning for Where Damien Chazelle Is Heading

Review: Damien Chazelle’s jazzy powder keg never loses sight of the finish line. Boiling with camera flourishes and hazy sets, Chazelle announces himself with Whiplash as either cinema’s savior or antichrist.

I imagine sometimes it’s just a matter of the right film hitting you at the right time. As a young lad interested in a minute portion of the film medium, I attached myself to Damien Chazelle’s debut film Whiplash and never looked back. Some may say it’s a core text for the eventual style and storytelling conventions that I now gravitate towards quite frequently. Or maybe I find myself relating to the Miles Teller character a bit too much in my daily life. Whatever it may be, Whiplash is a seminal moment for both myself and film industry.

It’s rare to see a rather unknown filmmaker announce themselves onto the scene in the manner that Damien Chazelle did when Whiplash debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014. In a way, Whiplash feels both very Sundance and completely against the norms of what that festival typically champions. On one hand, it piggybacks on the name recognition of J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller (even if Miles Teller wasn’t the Miles Teller post- Top Gun that we know him as today). 

On the other hand, it’s deeply unnerving and insular. Typically, the festival promotes films closer to CODA or The Last Black Man in San Francisco – films with an airier tone and bright color schemes. Whiplash offers little beyond dimly lit, hazy rooms that add to the depressing atmosphere Chazelle seems to let his dialogue live in. He bets heavily on tone in Whiplash with hopes that the abrasive characterization and an aggressive script can win over audiences.

And Whiplash unquestionably does just that. The film sinks into its script from the opening minutes with a career-defining villainous performance by J.K. Simmons. The adrenalin runs through your veins beginning with the brief drum sesh between Simmons’ drill sergeant-adjacent band director Terence Fletcher and Miles Teller’s puppy-eyed Andrew Neiman. Chazelle sets the stage early on for a lightning quick, hair raising dual between two forceful characters in the world of jazz music – one that Chazelle clearly feels confident in and continues to work in.

If there’s one feeling that Whiplash exudes at every turn, it’s confidence. The film feels like a director working well into their career, with a handful of successes and flops alike. One that announces someone has reentered their prime. It’s not a film that feels at the hands of a newcomer. It’s as if the self-proclaiming prodigy that enters the Shaffer Conservatory Studio in the film’s opening minutes is a stand-in for Chazelle himself – an indulging, overly self-confident artist capable of shattering boundaries if cooler heads prevail.

Reviews for Movies like Whiplash

Whiplash has ferocious energy that other films dream of having, and sometimes artificially try to build and land flat for. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of having perfect casting for the roles most important. At times, it feels like the whole film was written around J.K. Simmons as a performer. Simmons wins his Oscar for the film, and essentially builds a plethora of nominations off it, too. When pundits carried pitchforks around last year for his nomination in Being the Ricardos , I understood the harsh criticisms they had. After all, the film is simply not very good – but Simmons still holds the screen presence because of the performance he gives in Whiplash . People will always be excited to see him on screen because he was Terence Fletcher.

Few films feel well ahead of their time but also get their accolades in the moment. Whiplash is a launching point for everyone involved. Miles Teller delivers the peaks and valleys for a character arch presented as a good ole fashion rise-and-fall (even if the rise isn’t that monumental and the bottom doesn’t completely cave in on him). I wrote this review initially for the release of Babylon and now critics will say the jury is out on Chazelle, too. Understandably so. Chazelle isn’t one to hold back. Whiplash should’ve been a warning for the weirder, directionless career that one of the industry’s brightest youngsters was about to go on.

For years to come, Whiplash will continuously be reexamined and reappraised for how it exponentially multiplies tension and energy. Few visionaries are able to pull together this level of craft after decades in the business, yet Damien Chazelle was able to do it after a few short films and with a minimal budget. J.K. Simmons is the standout here, mainly because he gets his Oscar and years of future accolades, but Miles Teller also manages to string together a few solid performances after this film, too.

There’s a timeless quality to Whiplash that will keep it in the culture for years to come. It helps that Chazelle keeps getting bolder and bolder with his visions, and no one should be surprised after the volatile trip he takes you on in this one. Whether he crashes and burns like his characters here, or he soars like his protagonists in La La Land or First Man (literally), his films will be stand-ins for the medium’s zeitgeists many decades from now.

Genre: Drama

Where to watch Whiplash: Hulu, VOD

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Whiplash Film Cast and Credits

Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman

J.K. Simmons as Terence Fletcher

Paul Reiser as Jim Neiman

Melissa Benoist as Nicole

Austin Stowell as Ryan Connolly

Director: Damien Chazelle

Writer: Damien Chazelle

Cinematography: Sharone Meir

Editor: Tom Cross

Composer: Justin Hurwitz

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Common sense media reviewers.

Compelling drama about relentless pursuit of perfection.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Hard work and perseverance will get you where you

Andrew is single-minded in his pursuit of perfecti

A conductor is exacting to the point of cruelty. H

Flirting; sexual references.

Hateful homophobic language is hurled at students,

Some labels/products seen, including Samsung.

Social drinking by college students.

Parents need to know that although Whiplash is a coming-of-age movie of sorts, it's also a searing, powerful, and -- for younger viewers -- possibly disturbing portrait of a talented young man under the tutelage of a brilliant but seemingly heartless mentor. The older man is smart and almost always right…

Positive Messages

Hard work and perseverance will get you where you want to go -- just make sure you don't lose yourself along the way.

Positive Role Models

Andrew is single-minded in his pursuit of perfection. And though he veers into unhealthy territory, there's something to be said for his determination and work ethic.

Violence & Scariness

A conductor is exacting to the point of cruelty. He belittles his students, calls them names, and hurls homophobic insults. He also slaps a student repeatedly and hurls a chair at him. News of a student's suicide circulates. A drummer practices so hard that his fingers bleed all over the drums. A character gets into a horrible car accident and suffers a bloody gash and bruises.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Hateful homophobic language is hurled at students, including "f----t" and "pansy." Additional swearing abounds, including "s--t," "f--k," "bitch," "c--ksucker," "d--k," "ass," "motherf--ker," and "c--t."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that although Whiplash is a coming-of-age movie of sorts, it's also a searing, powerful, and -- for younger viewers -- possibly disturbing portrait of a talented young man under the tutelage of a brilliant but seemingly heartless mentor. The older man is smart and almost always right about his advice, but his tactics are brutal, from cruel name-calling (which involves tons of swearing, including "s--t," "f--k," a flurry of homophobic insults, and much more) to relentless nitpicking in his quest for perfection. Other issues to be aware of: There's a massive car accident that causes injuries, a student's suicide is mentioned, and the main character, Andrew, is so involved in his drumming that he literally draws blood. Clearly he's focused, and he works hard to achieve his goals, which is a strong example for teens -- just remind them not to lose themselves in the pursuit of perfection. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 31 parent reviews

This was one of the best movies I ever saw

What's the story.

In WHIPLASH, Andrew Neiman ( Miles Teller ) is a talented drummer -- talented enough to make it into Manhattan's prestigious music conservatory, Schaffer Academy. There's no bigger badge of approval at Schaffer than to be invited to join its elite jazz band, which is run by the tough and mysterious Terence Fletcher ( J.K. Simmons ). Fletcher has groomed some of jazz's best players, but pleasing him is a minefield. Fletcher's methods include -- among other, more traditional methods like pedagogy and charismatic history-sharing -- complete and utter humiliation. He's of the break-you-down-to-build-you-up (if at all) school of teaching. Andrew is thrilled to make the initial cut, but surviving Fletcher's class may break him, and his love for music, for good.

Is It Any Good?

Teller's total investment in his performance means viewers are no longer just viewers; we're also witnesses, and it's this intensity that makes writer-director Damien Chazelle's film so memorable. We pay little mind to its shortcomings: the unnecessary romance (which fails to flesh out Andrew but does expose his own cruelty) and the unfortunate impenetrability of Fletcher's (played brilliantly by Simmons) motives for his madness. Whiplash is both a refreshing, respectful ode to the beauty that is jazz music and a very compelling look at the horror that is a mentor-mentee relationship gone distressingly awry.

There's a particular scene in Whiplash when Andrew is hunched over the drums, aching to get through what may be the most important performance of his life. His hands are moving on their own steam, his body seized with tension and pain, his will driven to its limit. But he will not, he will not, he will not quit, and it's as if Teller has become his character, determined to make his mark with this movie, even if it kills him.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why Andrew wants to work with Fletcher in Whiplash . Why do you think any of the kids yearn to be in his band when he's so hard to work with?

What's Whiplash 's take on achievement and the road to success? Is it worth all the trouble? Fletcher makes great points about being complacent, but how does he cross the line?

Talk to your kids about what to look for in a mentor or a teacher. Is it OK for teachers to use unconventional tactics to motivate students? When should you worry -- and if that happens, what should you do?

How do the characters in Whiplash demonstrate perseverance ? Why is this an important character strength ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 10, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : February 24, 2015
• Cast : J.K. Simmons , Miles Teller
• Director : Damien Chazelle
• Studio : Sony Pictures Classics
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Arts and Dance
• Character Strengths : Perseverance
• Run time : 106 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong language including some sexual references
• Awards : Academy Award , Common Sense Selection , Golden Globe - Golden Globe Award Winner
• Last updated : June 20, 2024

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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WHIPLASH: A Story of Anger and Ambition

Red one trailer 1, made in england: the films of powell and pressburger: a love letter to the preeminent magicians of the movies, 5 movies to watch before maxxxine, a real pain trailer 1, the circle of life: why the lion king still resonates 30 years later, july rhapsody: midlife melancholia, thelma: a moving intergenerational action film starring june squibb, how i roll: hits the gas on heart, the front room trailer 1, you are here: comedy in a cosmic revelation, isa top 25 screenwriters to watch interview with zoë hodge, princeton’s in the mix: anything for the kids.

Why do we strive for greatness? What pushes someone to practice something over and over, until his hands bleed, until he perfects it? Can this intensity be brought out in all of us?  Whiplash  is a portrait of a young jazz drummer, Andrew Neyman, who possesses this drive to such a degree that everything else in his life is just background noise. The film contains superb acting performances, stylish but effective cinematography, and an upbeat, unpredictable nature that resembles the very essence of jazz itself.

Drummer Boy

Andrew’s rise to success is hindered by obstacles and tough decisions that force him to give up everything that distracts him from drumming. Fletcher’s method demands it. Andrew knows that the slightest mistake in competition or the practice room will cost him his spot in the band, and this limited opportunity is his inspiration.

From competition to rehearsal to social interaction,  Whiplash explores Andrew’s coming of age with gripping dialogue, camerawork, and of course music. As intense as  Gone Girl  and as witty as  Birdman , this film should not be missed and will be an inspiration to anyone who has ever dreamed of greatness.

Indie Filmmaker Makes it to Hollywood

Whiplash   is written and directed by  Damien Chazelle,  a young Harvard grad with only one previous directing credit – a 2009 independent film called  Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench . Like  Whiplash   after it,  Guy and Madeline is centered around musicianship, and despite having a much lower budget than  Whiplash ,  Chazelle ‘s debut is still promising and shows his potential for creating compelling narratives centered around jazz. If  Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is  Chazelle ‘s first born child, then  Whiplash   is its bigger, bolder, meaner, higher-achieving younger sibling.

The flow of the movie shifts speeds back and forth: from long scenes of high-tension dialogue to fast paced quick sections highlighting Andrew’s hypnotic practicing. We are constantly shuffled back and forth between the two types – each scene that moves the plot forward is separated by Andrew practicing or studying the drums religiously. Some of the best shots come during the playing of music in the film. The camera swoops around the band to the beat of the music (which is exciting and layered), then pulls to the back of the concert hall, then immediately cuts all the way in to Andrew’s face through a window between two cymbals. This camera work complements the intensity and rhythm of the film and its soundtrack.

My favorite shot in the film was the one in which the camera is positioned directly above Andrew’s drum set, looking straight down from the top. As he plays, we can see how fast his sticks fly around the entire kit, and how his whole body gets involved in the percussion. Miles Teller is actually playing the drums in these sequences, which make them all the more vivid and impressive. While the cinematography and editing are great in  Whiplash , it is unlikely that they will surpass those of  Birdman or Boyhood at the Academy Awards this year. All in all,  Whiplash is a great sophomore effort from  Damien Chazelle  which demonstrates his directing and writing competence.

Young Talent Meets Experience

Everybody has encountered an intimidating figure of authority whether it be a teacher, coach, or employer. They may abuse their power or make you psychologically uncomfortable, which can have serious affects on your behavior and performance. That is how Fletcher operates, by getting inside the brain of his pupils and forcing them to overcome his dominance. Andrew rises to this challenge, meeting Fletcher’s expectations and refusing to be bossed around. This Andrew vs. Fletcher conflict provides the film’s best scenes, and the way that their relationship develops and changes throughout the film is captivating.

Such captivation can only exist with convincing acting, and fortunately this is  Whiplash ‘s strongest quality.  Miles Teller , as Andrew, does a very good job of toeing the line between complete jerk/obsessor and someone we want to see succeed because of how badly he himself wants to succeed. He shifts between intensity, focus, explosiveness, and reservation fluidly and convincingly. Additionally, the fact that Teller is actually playing the drums throughout the film reflects work ethic of the same caliber as his character’s. He reportedly rehearsed for three hours a day for two months in preparation for shooting, which certainly payed off.  Teller is an emerging superstar. He has accumulated leading roles in many significant teenaged-oriented films such as Footloose ,  Project X , and  Divergent .   It is great to see him step into more serious territory with  Whiplash , and I am definitely interested to see in which directions his career moves going forward.

While  Teller  is good, the standout performance of  Whiplash  comes from  J. K. Simmons in an Oscar-nominated role of a lifetime.  Simmons ‘ Terrence Fletcher is tyrannical and cruel to the point of irrationality – he repeatedly humiliates, demotes and belittles his students. However, Fletcher’s character is more multidimensional than that, and thanks to  Chazelle ‘s writing does not become a caricature of the cruel, outdated instructor typically seen in music and sports films. Instead we are exposed to Fletcher behind the scenes, and come to realize his passion and dedication to music. This passion manifests itself as his persona of the volatile,  Full Metal Jacket – esque drill sergeant while conducting the studio band, but on a deeper level it really reflects his own thirst for excellence and disgust for failure – just like Andrew. Each scene with  J. K. Simmons in  Whiplash   is engrossing and awe-inspiring, and in my opinion he certainly deserves the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Pushed Too Hard

Whiplash is an excellent film, one of the best of 2014, but like all movies it has its shortcomings. For one, the relationship between Andrew and his father was introduced early on in the film but was never really developed or resolved. Andrew’s father is a failed writer turned high school teacher, exemplifying Andrew’s idea of an average, unimportant life. The ways in which Andrew resists his father’s advice and affection is saddening and highlights his obsessive, ambitious nature. This is a very interesting relationship that could have added another layer to the film, but unfortunately feels pushed off to the side and never really addressed or concluded.

Secondly, some of the plot points in the film, and I do not want to give anything away here, occur under such ridiculous and coincidental circumstances that they took me out of the experience and made me question if what was happening made any sense. Especially towards the end (you’ll know what I’m talking about once you watch it) I felt myself being pulled out of an otherwise engrossing and spectacular film and thinking about how unlikely a certain event and its aftermath seemed. With that in mind, it’s still a movie, free from the constraints of mundane reality. There is an undeniable spirit in this film.  Chazelle  in his writing has constructed some spectacular scenes and set pieces, but may have overextended himself and the plot a little too far.

But that’s the theme of Whiplash:  to push yourself further than you ever imagined possible, and for that the film’s ambition is commendable. Again, these are minor complaints,  Whiplash  is amazingly deep in its 107 minute running time, they just seem like details that could have easily been addressed.

The American Dream

Andrew and Fletcher share an intensity that is unmatched by most people. It causes them to alienate themselves and harm the ones they care about as they pursue perfection. Whiplash does not idolize them for this, nor does it vilify them,  Damien Chazelle  paints a picture into their world and how the pursuit of success tramples most other qualities of life.

But is this personal success worth the loss of love, friendship, and leisurely happiness? Surely Andrew and Fletcher would be incapable of surviving without a passion or focus. This hyperactivity and dedication reflects the pressures put on Americans to succeed in their professional field. It is a society in which kids are over-prescribed “focus pills” like Adderall and Ritalin to do well in school and set themselves up for success.  It is a culture that worships the rich, where the ultra high functioning individuals rise to the top. It does not matter where you’re from or what your values are, the ones who beat out the competition and perform at the highest level take home the prize.

In one philosophical dinner scene, Andrew says to his uncle, “I’d rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remember who I was.” His uncle responds, “But your friends will remember you, that’s the point.”

Be Who You Want To Be

It’s not a perfect movie, and may not be as game-changing as some other big releases this year, but  Whiplash is a stylish, engrossing, amazingly-acted film that everyone should experience, jazz fan or not. Because at its core  Whiplash is not only about jazz: it’s about who you want to be.

What did you think about  Whiplash ? Do Andrew and Fletcher take it too far? Is  J. K. Simmons about to be propelled into the A-list company of actors? Leave your comments below!

(top image source: Sony Pictures Classic)

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• DVD & Streaming
• Drama , Musical

Content Caution

In Theaters

• October 10, 2014
• Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman; J.K. Simmons as Terence Fletcher; Paul Reiser as Jim Neiman; Melissa Benoist as Nicole

Home Release Date

• February 24, 2015
• Damien Chazelle

Distributor

• Sony Pictures Classics

Movie Review

“If you don’t have ability, you end up playing in a rock band.”

So says a poster in Andrew Neiman’s dorm room. The 19-year-old freshman at New York’s prestigious Shaffer Conservatory idolizes jazz drumming legends Buddy Rich and Jo Jones. He’s determined to follow in their footsteps, practicing so furiously, so continuously that his hands are often a bloody mess of ruptured blisters.

One such practice session attracts the attention of Terrence Fletcher, the formidable faculty member whose Darth Vader-like commitment to utter perfection for Shaffer’s jazz band has made him a legend … to be feared.

Soon Andrew’s battling two other drummers for the right to sit at the skins in upcoming competitions. But he struggles to know how to read Fletcher’s mercurial moods. One minute the master musician tells him, “Relax. Don’t worry about the notes, don’t worry about what the other guys are thinking. You’re here for a reason. … Have fun.” The next he spits, “You are a worthless, friendless, f-ggot piece of s—.”

Affirmation, Andrew learns painfully, is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to Fletcher’s emotionally, verbally and even physically abusive attempts to “help” his band’s musicians become the best that they can possibly be. As Whiplash (the title coming from a difficult jazz standard repeatedly played) careens through its stanzas, the question for the young jazz drummer quickly becomes whether he can survive Terrence Fletcher’s brutal tutelage long enough to reach his goals—and whether all that abuse is really worth it.

Positive Elements

On the most basic level, both Andrew and Fletcher have an Olympic-level commitment to musical excellence. Andrew’s determination to be a great drummer nearly matches Fletcher’s relentless, unyielding perfectionism. In an abstract way, that commitment is a good thing. But the movie can be seen as a cautionary tale of sorts, chronicling what happens to both of them when that kind of commitment to perfection morphs into an unhealthy obsession.

The cost is high. Early on, Andrew scraps a new dating relationship with a young woman named Nicole, telling her that he’s so committed to drumming there’ll be no room for them . Indeed, there’s now no room in Andrew’s life for anyone . [ Spoiler Warning ] But eventually it seems that he begins to see the error of his ways in this area, trying to rekindle things with Nicole. Fletcher, for his part, is fired after one of his former students commits suicide.

For all that, the film still raises some interesting questions about what’s necessary to achieve the kind of musical excellence we’ll all still be talking about generations later. “Truth is, I don’t think people understood what I was doing at Shaffer,” Fletcher tells Andrew late in the film. “I was there to push people beyond what was expected of them.” Regarding society’s acceptance of mediocrity, Fletcher says, “That to me is an absolute tragedy. But that’s what the world wants.” He goes on to say that the two most damaging words in the English language are the too-easily uttered good job, because they can keep people from pushing themselves to become the best they can be.

Serving as both a foil and as an advocate for an entirely different kind of life is Andrew’s kind, gentle and engaged father, Jim. He wants the best for his son, but he doesn’t want Andrew to have to submit to the kind of abusive punishment Fletcher continually metes out. We learn that Jim’s wife left the young family many years before; but it’s obvious Jim has remained deeply committed to helping and loving his son, even as he tries to temper the young man’s expectations about life and success. From the sidelines, Fletcher repeatedly mocks the older man’s mundane existence, seeing it as a failure. But this father’s tender commitment to his son is shown to be a good and beautiful thing—never mind that Fletcher believes Jim’s brand of love amounts to corrosive coddling.

Spiritual Elements

You could say that Andrew pursues drumming with something like religious fervor. And a lengthy drum solo at the end of the movie is so engrossing it begins to feel almost like an ecstatic expression of worship for him.

Sexual Content

Fletcher repeatedly harasses band members with gay sexual slurs, frequently calling them “f-ggots.” In one case, he tells a male student to stop thinking about “your boyfriend’s d—,” using a sexual innuendo to communicate a musical instruction. He labels another drum player “Mr. Gay Pride,” and again unleashes a nasty sexual allusion (this one about manual stimulation) to make his rhythm-minded point. (And those aren’t the only verbal volleys that combine personal put-downs with sexual sleaze.) He tells a young woman that the only reason she’s first chair is because she’s hot. We see a couple kiss.

Violent Content

Andrew does indeed practice so hard and so long that his hands blister, break open and bleed. One scene involves him repeatedly trying to cover increasingly bigger wounds with Band-Aids. Another finds him soaking his bleeding hands in a clear container of ice water (which immediately clouds up with red). T-boned by another vehicle, Andrew climbs out of the wreckage, his face and hand covered with blood … then sprints several blocks to play in a competition. (He’s unable to finish when he drops a blood-covered drumstick.) Elsewhere, he falls painfully down a flight of stairs (onto his face).

When Fletcher tells him he’s done , Andrew attacks the teacher, triggering a brief melee. And Fletcher sometimes gets physically violent with his students, throwing chairs at them, kicking drums and, in one scene, repeatedly slapping Andrew’s face to try to teach him the rhythm of a song. A teary Fletcher tells the band he’s just learned that his best pupil ever was killed in a car accident. Later we learn he was lying; that the former student hanged himself, allegedly due to the depression and anxiety Fletcher’s methods pushed the young man into.

Crude or Profane Language

Fletcher can barely speak to his students without using the harshest of expletives. He even goes so far as using the outrageously offensive and derogatory c-word to address them at one point. And before the verbal abuse is over, we hear close to 100 f-words, two of which are combined with Jesus’ name, four or five paired with “mother,” and one or two used sexually. God’s name is abused about 10 times, three or four times with “d–n.” The s-word creeps in close to 20 times. A racial slur targets Jews; “f-ggot” is spit out several times, as are words like “c—s—er,” “d–k,” “pr–k” and “b–ch.” We hear “a–,” “h—,” “d–n” and “p—.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Several scenes include wine and beer, both in family settings and at a jazz club.

Other Negative Elements

I hinted at this earlier, but it really does deserve a bit more attention: Fletcher repeatedly takes deeply wounding personal shots at Andrew’s father, dismissing the earnest high school teacher as a loser, and mocking the fact that Andrew’s mother deserted her husband and child when Andrew was young. He doesn’t stop there, taunting and mocking all manner of people for being Jewish, Irish, gay, female, overweight, and utterly lacking (in his estimation) talent and drive. Related to his deeply misguided, manipulative, deceitful, and wholly narcissistic means and methods, Fletcher says of his desire to produce a jazz prodigy, “I never really had a Charlie Parker. But I tried. I actually f—ing tried, and I will never apologize for how I tried.”

Most of us have probably had someone—a teacher, a coach, a conductor—who pushed us harder than we’d ever pushed ourselves. At times it may have even seemed like that mentor’s “strategy for excellence” bordered on being abusive in some way. But in the end, perhaps we achieved something we never would have accomplished on our own.

First-time feature film director Damien Chazelle takes that experience and its corresponding question—what does it require to be the best we can be?—and blows it out maniacally and melodramatically in Whiplash . He imagines an instructor so dementedly committed to his perfectionist vision that there’s little abuse he won’t heap upon his students to get them to perform better.

In an interview with avclub.com , Chazelle described his instructions to J.K. Simmons (who plays Terrence Fletcher) in this way: “When your character screams, and you really go after someone, I want you to take it past what you think the normal limit would be. I want you to become nonhuman. I don’t want to see a human being onscreen anymore. I want to see a monster, a gargoyle, an animal.”

In a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal , he added, “I wanted him to be a great villain role and scare the s— out of you without ever using a gun or a knife. I wanted him to scare the s— out of you just by how he walks in the room, how he talks to you. And there are very few actors who can pull that off. He’s not playing a murderer or a terrorist. He’s playing a music teacher. That to me still makes me giddy.”

Simmons’ utterly, abusively over-the-top portrayal of a music mentor gone wild is a key reason Whiplash has been embraced as a critical darling, netting five Oscar nominations as well as racking up awards at various film festivals.

But it’s that same drastic depiction—filled with some of the harshest, most profane and demeaning personal attacks you don’t want to imagine—that ultimately undermines the serious, provocative questions Whiplash asks about pursuing excellence and how we all might be pushed toward it. Wherever the line is, we know that Fletcher is way, way over it.

And I can’t help but feeling the same way about the film itself.

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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If I tell you that this diabolically entertaining spellbinder is about a student (Miles Teller) trying to master the arcane art of jazz drumming at an elite music conservatory, you might get all bored and pissy and pass on it. That would be stupid. Whiplash is no Dead Drummers Society. Written and directed by the gifted Damien Chazelle ( Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench ), from his own experience of getting schooled on the sticks, Whiplash is a battle to the death. It’s also a provocation: How much of what makes you human will you sacrifice for a desire to truly excel?

When Andrew Neyman (Teller) locks horns with bullying instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), there’s blood on the walls and Andrew’s psyche. Terence has a Ph.D. in mind-fucking. Hell awaits if you’re not on his tempo. Chazelle, 29, stages these S&M drum duels with strafing mastery. And the two lead actors will blow you away. Teller ( The Spectacular Now ), a drummer himself, is a young actor of startling power and nuance. And Simmons, who can play evil (HBO’s Oz ), gentle ( Juno ) and all stops between, is a barbed and brilliant marvel in the role of his life. Beat the drums for a Simmons Oscar, and add a cymbal crash for Whiplash. It’s electrifying.

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Whiplash (United States, 2014)

It's a noteworthy achievement for director Damien Chazelle to infuse a tale about the development of a musician with all the tension and intensity of a top-notch thriller. Whiplash is riveting. At times, it evidences the qualities of a can't-turn-away car wreck: brutal and horrific yet compelling. At other times, it has the rhythms of a sports drama with all the ups and downs inherent in that genre. It's about obsession and compulsion. It's about what happens when too much importance is placed on greatness and when the goal of achieving it eclipses all else. It twists the mentor/student relationship in ugly ways. But, above all, it focuses on the power shifts and test of wills that develop between characters brilliantly portrayed by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. This movie is not to be missed.

Make no mistake: both Teller and Simmons deserve acknowledgement for their work here with Oscar nominations. I have no idea if the Academy will agree. Simmons plays the more showy and complex character, a Machiavellian music teacher/band conductor whose motivations are often as inscrutable as his tactics. Teller's ambitious but naïve drummer is no less powerfully portrayed but the sense here is that the older actor is more likely to be recognized. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Both men give the best performances thus far in their careers, with Simmons taking giant strides away from J. Jonah Jameson and Juno's dad, and Teller making us forget how much he has sometimes resembled a young John Cusack. Even at Cusack's best, he never offered anything this visceral.

The story uses a cinematic standby: the student challenged to achieve his full potential by a teacher. Movie history is littered with these narratives, but I can't remember one quite as uncompromising as Whiplash . Some of this is due to the high-energy, tightly paced manner in which Chazelle directs but the script refuses to offer moments of false sentiment. The characters don't bond and even the ending doesn't quite play out the way one might anticipate. The familiarity of the arc is undermined by the manner in which it is constructed. Most teacher/pupil films are safe, secure experiences that develop into audience pleasing, feel-good experiences. Whiplash is more complex. It revels in making viewers uncomfortable and Chazelle is unconcerned whether viewers stand and applaud or sit in stunned silence. Whiplash indeed.

Simmons' Terence Fletcher is no Mr. Chips. In fact, he's closer to the drill sergeant portrayed by R. Lee Ermy in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket . One wonders whether that's where Simmons went for his inspiration. Forget about Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society , Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds , and Richard Dreyfus in Mr. Holland's Opus . Fletcher is a much different character. His goal of prodding his students to reach their potential is achieved through bullying and sadism. He offers scorn instead of praise. ("There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'.'") He is a cruel taskmaster whose "end justifies the means" mantra makes him the nightmare instructor everyone fears. His latest protégé at the exclusive music school where he works is talented jazz drummer Andrew Neyman (Teller) whose personal drive for greatness feeds the unhealthy relationship that develops between the two. Along the way, we are provided with enough glimpses of the "inner" Fletcher to dispel the illusion that he's just a monster, and we're given ample evidence that Andrew is as much accomplice as victim in what transpires.

I was on the edge of my seat during parts of Whiplash , and that almost never happens. Usually with a film like this, I know where it's going and sit back to enjoy (or not enjoy) the ride. Whiplash doesn't permit such a passive response. It invites participation - almost every action on Fletcher's part, especially his end-game, can be seen through various lenses and Chazelle leaves it up to the viewer to decode motivation. Even his "confession" might be a bluff; it seems sincere but in retrospect can be seen as part of a greater plan. Fletcher is a master manipulator. Depending on your perspective, the ending can be viewed as triumphant or tragic. Perhaps it's both.

This represents Chazelle's first opportunity to take a film into wide distribution. It's based on an 18-minute 2013 short he made (with Simmons reprising his role) and was the toast of Park City in 2014, winning Sundance's Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize. Kudos to the writer/director, Teller and Simmons. These three men have combined to craft something vital and memorable. Whiplash has its spot reserved on my end-of-the-year Top 10.

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‘the count of monte cristo’ review: revenge is a dish best served with breathtaking backdrops in a lavish adaptation that lacks staying power.

Pierre Niney (‘Yves Saint Laurent’) plays the hero of Alexandre Dumas’ epic novel in a new French-language version from Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière.

By Jordan Mintzer

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While Hollywood has been exploiting comic books and YA novels as intellectual property for a long time, French cinema has only recently begun to feed its wealth of 19th century novels into the content machine, churning big-budget epics out of classic books in the public domain.

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Both films were written by the duo of Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière, who previously helmed a series of hit comedies ( Daddy or Mommy , Divorce French Style , What’s in a Name? ) with a fast-paced Hollywood edge to them. They bring the same approach to The Count of Monte Cristo , another certified Dumas classic whose sprawling 1,500 pages the directors manage to condense into a watchable, if rather unremarkable, three-hour epic filled with plenty of whiplash intrigue.

Like Dickens, Dumas was a commercially successful writer specializing in serial narratives, with the bulk of his work published in weekly newspapers, then released later in book form. You could say that he and other major French authors from the 1800s, including Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo, who also exploited the weekly format, are the forefathers of the brand of serial storytelling that has become a standard in the era of Netflix, with cliffhangers and twists keeping the viewer bingeing away until dawn.

In that sense, Monte Cristo , the movie, may have actually played better as a TV series, so much does it rush from one big sequence or set-piece to another in highly streamlined and efficient fashion. But what was so memorable about Dumas’ novel was the way it seemed to stretch out time, especially the grueling 14-year period that its maligned hero, sailor Edmond Dantès ( Pierre Niney ), spends imprisoned on a tiny island off of Marseilles.

It’s a lot to take in at first, but Delaporte and de la Patellière are specialists at dishing out plot points both smoothly and expeditiously. The Count of Monte Cristo is the kind of movie where, after 180 minutes and many, many more plot points, you walk out of the theater without having felt the time pass. That’s a good thing if you’re looking for a fairly entertaining, swords-and-puffy-shirts revenge tale — and Dumas’ novel is probably the mother of all revenge tales. But if you’re looking for something with more depth and staying power, this polished adaption (budgeted at $47 million, which is huge for a French film) offers lots of conniving and scheming without anything more meaningful.

While Dantès is stuck in solitary confinement, where he grows a beard that would put him right at home in Portland or Williamsburg, he befriends an Italian priest, Faria (Pierfrancesco Favino), who tunnels through to his cell and winds up changing his life. Over the course of a decade — compressed into about 10 minutes — Faria gives Edmond a college-level education while making him an accomplice in his escape plan. He also tells him of a treasure hidden by the Templars on an island called Monte Cristo, off the coast of Italy. When the priest suddenly dies, Dantès moves into action, breaking out of prison and enacting a revenge plot he’s been cooking up for years.

You can sense the filmmakers trying to deal with these and other more dubious elements of Dumas’ page-turner, and they do their best to tie together several characters who were unrelated in the original text. This happens during the movie’s dense and chatty second half, when the action shifts to Paris as Edmond, now the high-rolling Count of Monte Cristo, begins to painstakingly take out his enemies, enlisting the orphan Haydée (Anamaria Vartolomei) and the illegitimate child Andrea (Julien de Saint Jean) to help.  

There’s a lot going on at this point, including the fact that Edmond begins to get corrupted by his own unquenchable thirst for vengeance, yet one would be hard-pressed to come up with a single scene that really stands out. The same cannot be said for the film’s dazzling array of sets and locations, which shift from gorgeous Mediterranean vistas to several jaw-dropping villas and mansions that production designer Stéphane Taillasson ( Eiffel ) decks out in different 19th century styles.

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Haunted Mansion review: LaKeith Stanfield elevates the tonal unevenness of a Disney theme park movie

Stanfield gives his ghost hosts the most in Justin Simien's take on the Disneyland ride.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

Disney, arguably the king of IP in the current Hollywood landscape, has had varying degrees of success when it comes to spinning movies out of its theme park rides ( Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is sublime; Country Bears, not so much).

Its latest — and second — take on the Haunted Mansion attraction falls squarely in the middle of these efforts. LaKeith Stanfield 's central performance elevates Haunted Mansion, out July 28.

Stanfield stars as Ben Matthias, an astrophysicist turned reluctant tour guide who is haunted by the death of his wife. His sullen, booze-soaked days are disrupted when Father Kent ( Owen Wilson ) shows up at his doorstep, offering him $2,000 to help a mother and son — Gabbie ( Rosario Dawson ) and Travis (Chase Dillon) — deal with their very haunted new house. Of course Ben is a non-believer, until a ghost follows him home, sending him on a hare-brained adventure to recruit an academic ( Danny DeVito ) and a medium ( Tiffany Haddish ) to help the ensemble rid the house of the evil spirits that live there.

Stanfield and Dillon are the standouts here, the two mortals so haunted by their grief that they're just as stuck as the ghosts terrorizing them. If Barbie , based on a doll, is a movie with powerful commentary on the patriarchy and existential dread, then Haunted Mansion , based on a Disney Parks attraction, is a meditation on the crippling power of grief and suicidal ideation. Or at least, it wants to be.

But Disney tries to have its cake and eat it too, inducing tonal whiplash in Katie Dippold's otherwise emotionally resonant script. For every breakdown by Stanfield poised to move audiences to tears, there's a wry aside from Wilson or an intrusive one-liner from Haddish. Stanfield's Ben and Dillon's Travis are grappling with very real demons, yet the mansion is full of recognizably goofy spirits, including Jared Leto 's sneering Hatbox Ghost.

Justin Simien ( Dear White People ) is a promising director, one who was clearly interested in exploring loss, the afterlife, and the complicated relationships between New Orleans' history, the region's racial make-up, and cultural differences in our responses to death. But while he, Dippold, and their leading man are able to insert startling moments of pathos, they can't quite overcome the Disney remit.

That's not to say that plenty of that stuff isn't fun too. Simien and his production team craft a delightful recreation of some of Haunted Mansion's most famous rooms, apparitions, and sight gags. Production designer Darren Gilford also deserves credit for delighting in the pinks, purples, and greens of the afterlife, rather than opting for a spectral lack of color.

Jamie Lee Curtis is clearly having a ghoulishly good time chewing scenery as head-in-a-crystal-ball Madame Leota, while Leto (this time unrecognizable thanks to visual effects rather than a method acting crash diet) revels in portraying his own dastardly devil. If Haddish, Wilson, and DeVito aren't doing anything particularly new, their comedic stylings shot them to stardom for a reason — and they deliver dutifully. Simien even directs Haddish into a performance that exhibits admirable restraint when it comes to her unpredictable improvisational approach.

It's Dawson who gets the raw deal here. Presumably, she should be central to the plot, as the mother of a young son who lands them both in a haunted residence. But the film prioritizes the surrogate-father and son relationship between Ben and Travis, so Dawson's Gabbie is largely an afterthought, left to fret and wring her hands. The heavy emphasis on her role's status as a single mom does her no favors, particularly in her dowdy-to-the-point-of-distracting costuming and styling.

Stanfield should be a bigger movie star by now. His wiry frame and handsome face belie the consistently interesting choices he makes as a performer. He's been working steadily since 2013's Short Term 12, stealing scenes in everything from Get Out to Selma to Knives Out while leading quirkier projects such as Sorry to Bother You. He earned an Oscar nomination for his work in Judas and the Black Messiah , and Haunted Mansion proves his ability to deliver expressive, meaningful work across any project.

There's a touching, deeply philosophical movie here under the witchy wisecracks and genuine scares — a heartbreaking examination of the ways in which grief and loss are their own hauntings, far more frightening and paralyzing than things that go bump in the night. The film also offers a spirited, genuinely amusing twist on a beloved Disney ride that both pays winking tribute to its history and creates a new, inspired mythology.

But Haunted Mansion can't decide what it wants to be — perhaps because of too much executive interference, perhaps because it's hard to make a funny, entertaining, family film about death. Much like its namesake, Haunted Mansion is an enjoyable, if somewhat sedate experience that is more spooky diversion than thrill ride. Grade: B-

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Fly Me to the Moon Review: The Best Date Movie of Early Summer

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• Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum's chemistry drives a charming rom-com set against the backdrop of the Apollo space program.
• Director Greg Berlanti skillfully intertwines historical events, creating a unifying purpose for the characters amidst a divided time.
• Fly Me to the Moon is a predictable yet feel-good rom-com, with Johansson and Tatum's performances shining bright.

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum bring stellar chemistry to a cheery rom-com with just the right dose of patriotism. Fly Me to the Moon will have couples and conspiracy buffs alike swooning in surprise agreement over the best date movie of early summer . A better than expected script and the winsome leads add big smiles to a fun retelling of America's greatest technological achievement. Director Greg Berlanti deserves a lion's share of credit for skillfully intercutting newsreels of a divided time. He frames the heroes of the Apollo space program against the darkness of the Vietnam War, political assassinations, and social unrest. The moon landing reminded a pessimistic country of what was possible when our best and brightest were given an opportunity for greatness.

A PR Pro and Apollo's Adonis Fake the Moon Landing

Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, Fly Me to the Moon is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’s (Tatum) already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up and the countdown truly begins…

• Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson have hot chemistry.
• The movie is cheery fun, a great summer romance.
• Greg Berlanti's direction intelligently frames the space race in American history.
• Has all the usual, predictable beats of a will-they-won't-they rom-com.

Kelly Jones (Johansson) walks into a Madison Avenue pitch room of sexist car executives awaiting a marketing presentation for the new Ford Mustang. She's dismissed outright as a woman before her formidable skills grab their attention. Kelly exudes confidence. She has the room eating out of her hands before the contract ink dries. Kelly's a master manipulator who achieves her goals through deft dishonesty.

Meanwhile, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Apollo mission commander Cole Davis (Tatum) feels enormous pressure to fulfill the goal of President John F. Kennedy's 1961 promise to put an American on the moon before the end of the decade. He has seven months before Apollo 11's 1969 lunar landing attempt. Congress has slashed NASA's funding after the horrific tragedy of Apollo 1 in 1967, believing America shouldn't waste astronauts' lives or billions on space when so many are in need. Cole is haunted by their loss but refuses to give up. They owe success to the men who died valiantly.

In New York City, an unexpected visitor ruins Kelly's martini lunch. Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), a top advisor to President Nixon, has a dossier of all her dirty secrets. He can make everything go away for a price. NASA has a public relations problem. He needs the best marketing expert to get their funding back, give NASA a sparkling new image, and ensure success at all costs to defeat Russian communism. A puzzled Kelly finally understands his meaning. An American will land on the moon whether it really happens or not.

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Fly Me to the Moon unabashedly accentuates good looks and glamour to drive the romance . Scarlett Johansson is a blonde bombshell with curvy outfits that give every neck whiplash. Channing Tatum sticks out like a chiseled adonis in nifty colored turtlenecks among a sea of nerdy white dress shirts, black ties, and rimmed glasses. They are smoking hot . Everyone around them is keenly aware of the raging sex appeal. This is the perfect fuel to stoke their opposites-attract fire.

Cole's first brush with Kelly establishes him as a gentleman who's too busy for the ladies. Which, of course, makes Kelly that much more intrigued. Here's a guy who's not tripping over himself to make an impression. That magnetism humorously turns to sexy angst once the straight-laced Cole realizes that Kelly has power over him. She's been given carte blanche to fix NASA's PR and Cole isn't happy about it. Advertising campaigns won't help them solve critical scientific problems. He needs to ensure the astronauts' safety and complete the mission.

Kelly responds with hard facts and bold action. Rocket launches cost money. NASA needs to win back financial support and a reputation makeover. None of that works unless Cole plays ball with her strategy. The rub being, he has no clue about her efforts to fake the landing .

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Fly Me to the Moon Ignites America's Unifying Purpose

Berlanti, a prolific showrunner known for Dawson's Creek , the CW's multiple Arrowverse series , and the film Life as We Know It , puts his actors in the best possible light. Kelly, for all of her duplicity, is supremely likable. Cole's the kind of man you wish your daughter would marry . There's a wholesome connection that grows as the characters forge a unified purpose.

Berlanti's visual cues are key to this process. We see NASA engineers building the mammoth Saturn V rockets, a lunar module, and a vehicle lander. These scenes are juxtaposed with footage of Vietnam's casualties. Berlanti never fails to remind the audience of the stakes . Kelly understands the value of public perception. People embrace winners and progress, but the honest Cole won't lie to facilitate her methods. You can guess his reaction when discovering the truth.

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Fly Me to the Moon does fall into the rom-com pit of predictability . There's never a doubt they'll end up in each other's arms for a passionate smooch. The film broadcasts its intentions through a megaphone, but the joy comes from the journey. Watching Kelly and Cole fall in love while sending the hopes of humanity to the stars is admittedly magical. It's an old-fashioned, feel-good story that lifts the spirit. Harrelson and a nearly unrecognizable Ray Romano are wonderful scene-stealers. Everyone is easy to root for in this space race.

Fly Me to the Moon is a production of Apple Studios, Berlanti-Schechter Films, and These Pictures. It will be released theatrically on July 12th from Sony Pictures. You can find showtimes and tickets here.

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