Miles Teller plays a gifted young drummer at an elite art school and J.K. Simmons plays the drill sergeant/band conductor. I've been a pretty big fan of Simmons for a long time, since he played an evil skin-head in HBO's Oz. Both on that show and in this movie Simmons' intensity allows him to elevate the lines he reads to be full on menace and threat. He's definitely the best part of the movie for me.
The role Teller plays is a lot more complex than the one Simmons has, because it has to explain why he's willing to take Simmons's abuse. Unlike the cadets in Jacket, the students here are actively choosing their abuse. I could identify with Teller's drive and ambition, and how sometimes our ambitions can take us to dark places. Unfortunately, in a way that I find kind of hard to explain I didn't really like Teller's performance in this role. I think his character was too much of a cipher, I had trouble determining what he really wanted and where his drive came from. This really hurt the movie for me.
If you like really intense performances and some very fun jazz numbers, this movie is worth a look, but I can't endorse it whole-heatedly.
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