Norman Warner (John Astin) was a stellar instructor for a school system in a small city. But, after winning "teacher of the year" awards for years, he suffered a heart attack and died. His son, Matt (David Paymer) is a teacher, also, and has aspirations of his own to be a stand-out, trophy-winning class leader. But, his style is very different from his dad's, more "by the book" and few students really like him, including his own teenage son who attends the school. Then, too, the place just got a fabulous new teacher, Mr. DeAngelo (Ryan Reynolds) who makes history instruction come alive with many creative techniques. It would appear that Mr. D has much better chance of winning accolades, thus ruining the Warner family's long line of awards. Can you spell competition? Then, too, although a lovely young female teacher has a crush on Mr. D, he discourages her advances beyond friendship. Are there more secrets to tumble out? This was truly another good entry into the genre of "school movies", such as Dangerous Minds, School of Rock and the like. Alternating between upbeat and sad themes, it has some good lessons to convey. The cast is nice, with Paymer and Reynolds doing fine work as the principal actors, although initially it seems RR is all wrong for the part. The rest of the players do a nice job as well. Aiding in the film's success, too, are the attractive setting, costumes, camera-work, script and direction. In short, do go "back to school" and make time to view this sweet little winner. It has some hidden values behind its lighter moments.

I was a bit shocked to find out this was a made-for-TV movie! With that said, the movie had it's cheesy moments like most TV-movies do.

Plot: 8.5/10 Writing: 6/10 Acting: 7/10 Film/Editing: 7/10

Overall I feel like the acting wasn't bad - it's the cheesy script that they had to deal with.. I think they did the best job they could do with the script at hand. The movie is intended for 8-15 demographic, with parental supervision. If you're a 25 year old looking for a movie with laughs, you'll probably rate this movie lower. As a 30 year old parent of 3 toddlers, I gave the movie more applause. They hit on a lot of great life lessons and points, and it's a tear jerker for kids 8-12. If I were to rate the movie based on it's genre alone, I'd give it an 8.5/10, but comparing it to every movie ever made, I'd give it a 7/10, and that's probably a bit generous.

Ryan Reynolds goes "PG" rated and the results are an OK family flick. This film is certainly no "Van Wilder". I believe the fans of his more outrageous movies will probably be disappointed. David Paymer carries the film as the at first combative, and later understanding rival teacher. "School of Life" is definitely a message movie, clearly defining what interests the students, and what does not. Of course Ryan Reynolds methods are a reality stretch, but the point is made. As a heartwarming tale this only marginally succeeds, because everything is telegraphed, such as the final basketball game. It is what it is, plain vanilla fluff. - MERK