From the Friday, Sept. 14 Oregonian…
“Chalk” is a mock-documentary comedy-drama (a drockumentary?) that tracks a year in the lives of four high-school staffers -- a nervous-newbie history teacher (Troy Schremmer), a showboat gunning for Teacher of the Year (Chris Mass), a pushy gym coach (Janelle Schremmer) and the coach’s stressed-out BFF (Shannon Haragan), who just ascended to Assistant Principal from the instructor ranks.
The camerawork, deadpan tone and moments of mortification certainly recall “The Office” and its ilk. (The movie, shot on mini-DV, actually plays like a really solid TV pilot.) But co-writer/director (and former Austin high-school teacher) Mike Akel is doing his own thing here, and mostly doing it really well. “Chalk” doesn’t look for laugh-out-loud moments, shooting instead for a subtler comedy of tone -- a tone so subtle that for the first 20 minutes or so, an uninformed viewer might actually think “Chalk” was an actual documentary. It’s a shame, later, when a clunky dream sequence breaks the spell.
Akel also goes his own way by eschewing “Office”-style mockery; he has a wry sympathy for his addled characters, especially the way they learn via endless, merciless, public failure. The movie has “heart” in a way that doesn’t feel cloying or dishonest. And the cast -- especially Janelle Schremmer -- just nails it.
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B; 85 minutes; rated PG-13 for some language.
‘Chalk’ (The Oregonian, Sept. 14, 2007)
