The Emperor's Club (2002)

Very well executed

Too much of everything

Better Late Then Never

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

William Hundert (Kevin Kline) is a retired after 34 years of teaching. He is at a resort attending a dinner in his honor. He recalls his time at the prestigious boys school Saint Benedict's Academy. It's early 1970s. His class is a bunch of fresh face respectful kids until the arrival of the opinionated rebellious Senator's son Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch). There is a competition in the school tradition called Mr. Julius Caesar. Sedgewick starts to corrupt his fellow classmates including Martin Blythe (Paul Dano), Louis Masoudi (Jesse Eisenberg) and Deepak Mehta. Sedgewick's father is a cold man and Hundert starts to get through to him. Hundert massages Sedgewick's grade to get him into the top three for the Julius Casesar competition. Hundert figures out that Sedgewick is cheating and ensures that he would lose. They dare each other but they both keep it a secret. Sedgewick returns to his pranking slacker ways and a C average. Twenty five years later, Sedgewick organizes a rematch while offering a large donation.This is a different take on the sainted teacher movie. Hundert is not always right and does some morally ambiguous things. His reasoning is commendable. The lesson is brilliantly compelling. He is a flawed character struggling in a flawed world with a flawed student. It's kind of a reverse "Mr. Holland's Opus" and there are no tears in this one. Holland thinks himself a failure but his students show him his success. Hundert thinks himself a solid teacher but is challenged by the one that got away.

I know this point has been addressed in practically every review for this movie, but I have to talk at least a little bit about Dead Poets Society. This is NOT like DPS in quality, principle, or plot basis. I only say this because I, like I'm sure many people did, expected Emperor's Club to be like a 21st century's Dead Poets. It's not an entirely bad film, but it definitely could have been better. The quality of the plot and characters would have been fine if they were included in a genre other than drama, but since the plot and characters are pretty much the only elements that the story has it's kind of unsatisfactory.The characters as a whole were slightly below average. William Hundert is clearly a solid teacher and does his best to engage all of his students in their education of the Greeks and Romans, but is rather weak and soft outside of the classroom, which aren't great qualities for somebody in his position. The truth is, he fails nearly every student as a result of failing Sedgewick. Sedgewick Bell's main purpose is to elevate himself socially by defying Mr. Hundert. This part of his character is fine, but his exposition as someone who feels the rules don't apply to him feels forced. James Ellerby and Elizabeth had too little screen time for the importance they were treated with and probably could and should have been left out entirely, or at least included differently. If the movie had been a true story, their two characters would have been fine, but since it's fiction, there's really no excuse for their incorporation into the story. Senator Bell's role was good, especially in how his actions on screen generated necessary exposition for how he was treated off screen. The three other main students of Louis Masoudi, Deepak Mehta, and Martin Blythe definitely deserved more attention and I think the movie could have been much better if we got to know the three of them better.The plot could have been much better. The first hour or so is fine with Mr. Hundert teaching his students and going into unofficial battle against Sedgewick's vices. The Mr. Julius Caesar contest was well done too, especially the display of Sedgewick's cheating because it was presented in such a way that the audience keeps perfect pace with the characters. However, the back half with the Julius Caesar rematch was kind of weak. The 25 year hiatus between the two contests was very poorly executed, particularly Mr. Hundert wanting to become principal. It had no pertinence to the rest of the story except to lead in the older Sedgewick funding the school and the Julius Caesar rematch. The scenario was plausible, but they could have easily found another one that wasted much less time on screen (for instance, the school just needs funds for Hundert to keep his job). The second Caesar contest goes fine until we find out that Sedgewick cheats again. The sequence was executed well again, but come on, there was no reason for Sedgewick to cheat again. Winning the contest wouldn't have helped his career or his ego or anything else. Why he wanted the rematch to begin with is perfectly understandable, but unless he's just *that* competitive, there was really no point for him to cheat again. The falling action after the second contest was alright, and you get a good sense of how most of the characters' lives will continue. You might find the ending satisfying, but I couldn't root for Mr. Hundert enough to really feel like he'd earned the recognition of his students.The acting was decent, but don't expect any award-winning performances. The rest of the execution is standard in the score, editing, directing, and stuff like that. The script actually wasn't too bad despite the lower caliber characters.For prospective viewers, I would recommend that you not spend money on it, but not count it out from your "to see" list. It's not bad as a family movie, but you may want to screen it first and see if you want to filter anything. It really could be PG and the scenes that make it PG-13 feel a little forced and don't really advance the characters or story (think Planes, Trains, and Automobiles). I don't know what genre fans I would recommend this to, but probably don't watch it based on any of the actors and be warned that it doesn't have attractive amounts of comedy, romance, action, horror, or qualities of any other genre. Basically, it's all story. If you don't like it after the first Julius Caesar contest, it's probably best to stop. If you want to see it through, just be warned that you might be disappointed. Overall Rating: 7/10.

One Of The FINEST Actors of Cinema, Kevin Kline proves his magic yet again in 'The Emperor's Club'. As an idealistic prep school teacher, Kline delivers a terrific performance, that elevates this film to a really high-level.'The Emperor's Club' Synopsis: An idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigible student.'The Emperor's Club' is a well-made film. It entertains & engages nicely all through. Ethan Canin & Neil Tolkin's Screenplay is very good. Michael Hoffman's Direction, captures the journey of it's protagonist, with maturity & dignity. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are appropriate. Performance-Wise: Kline is truly terrific in here. This is his finest work in years. Emile Hirsch is superb. Jesse Eisenberg, like always, is natural to the core. Paul Dano is good. Embeth Davidtz is decent. Edward Herrmann & Rob Morrow lend good support. Rahul Khanna, Joel Gretsch, Patrick Dempsey & Steven Culp are effective. On the whole, 'The Emperor's Club' is worth a watch. A Must See for Kline Fans, Specifically!

Loved this movie. The best I've seen in a long, long time. The message is that without intellectual honesty, we have and are nothing. Character is our foundation and our salvation. Being the smartest is fun, but true emotional intelligence is a real achievement. WHY wasn't this film nominated for an Oscar? Kevin Kline is an inspiration, while Emile Hirsch is truly brilliant in a difficult role for his age group.The movie reminded me of the Breakfast Club because none of the main characters are what they seem at first glance to be. They resist stereotypes and labels because they are so obviously imperfect, and the consequences of their actions are not clear-cut, to them or to the viewer.Excellent movie. Run, don't walk to rent this DVD. I'm amazed it didn't get more press at the time.