Chalk

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Funny but undecidedly pendantic
Rating: 3.0 stars

By PETER KEOUGH

September 12, 2007 3:34:26 PM

CHALK: A fictitious Texas high school gone awry.

Mike Akel’s film chronicles a year at a fictitious Texas high school from the point of view of its misfit teaching staff. There’s the third-year history teacher who doesn’t know anything but knows how to get along with the kids. There’s the first-year teacher who knows his stuff but is hopeless at connecting with his students. There’s the first-year assistant principal who finds the grind of administration much more daunting than teaching, and her friend the PE teacher who tries to exploit their relationship for favors. Sound funny yet? In fact, Akel brings funny dialogue and wry timing to a film that isn’t quite sure how pedantic it wants to be.

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