The Emperor's Club" is ambitious in its attempts to add depth to a tired formula: that of the inspiring teacher reaching out to and compelling troubled students. And while it sounds like a "Dead Poets Society" knockoff, it unfortunately is not. I say unfortunately because "The Emperor's Club" features a teacher who is uninspiring and students who are unmotivated.
The outcome is a poorly conceived morality play that works only sporadically, and leaves viewers wondering why they're paying to see this movie when "Dead Poets Society" is on the USA channel every night for free.
The story is somewhat original, if unbelievable. Principled, stuffy prep school professor William Hundert (Kevin Kline) has his world neatly laid out in front of him. He is shaken when Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch) comes into his classroom and refuses to study. Hundert reaches out to the boy and turns him around, pulling him into contention for a prestigious contest.
The catch: only the top three students in the class get to compete. At the end of the term, Hundert is so impressed with Sedgewick's improvement that he breaks his own moral code and allows the boy to compete, taking the place of a deserving student, although Sedgewick doesn't qualify.
At the contest, Hundert discovers that Sedgewick is cheating, and is totally disheartened. He stops trying to motivate the boy; as a result, Sedgewick's grades drop throughout high school. Twenty-five years later, Hundert receives word from Sedgewick that he wants a rematch of the competition so that he can reclaim his intellectual honor. At the rematch, Hundert finds Sedgewick cheating again, and once again he loses faith in his ability to reach his students.
Kline plays his role well, although with a total lack of self-awareness or realization of his character's deep flaws. Hundert is presented to us as the ideal teacher, one to whom we should compare all others. The problem is that when we watch him we realize he is a very bad teacher, and the movie doesn't recognize it.
Hundert unjustly gives Sedgewick a spot in the contest, allowing him to continue in the contest after cheating twice and he rigs the original contest so that his chosen student will win. This doesn't sound to me like a man who should be teaching our children.
Kline is generally good in a bad role, and ends up being the only bright light in the movie. While his odd accent is distracting, it is far from the biggest problem with the film.
A bigger problem is Hirsch as the young Sedgewick. He plays his rebellious schoolboy role with all the skill and depth of a "Home Improvement" kid. I have to think the only reason Hirsch is in this film is that Jonathon Taylor Thomas wasn't available. If Sedgewick were any more of a pretty-boy schoolboy cliche, they simply would have named his character Zack Morris.
Director Michael Hoffman presents us with a disjointed story that leaves plot points dangling without resolution while moving on to other, even less compelling storylines. A perfect example is the development of Hundert's love interest. She gets so little explanation that we must figure out for ourselves that she is married to another man, that she is unhappy in that marriage and that she wishes to be with Hundert. In the second portion of the film, set 25 years later, Hoffman resolves her character simply with a voiceover that explains how she tired of her husband and married Hundert. This type of shoddy storytelling is consistent throughout "The Emperor's Club."
For a film with an original plot, "The Emperor's Club" is painfully disappointing and an overwhelming downer. Perhaps it's my own fault for hoping this movie would be as good as "Dead Poets Society," but the films' lack of resemblance to each other is striking.
"The Emperor's Club" has none of the heart, beauty or inspirational story that "Dead Poets Society" had, and it is a shame. While Hollywood consistently doles out repetitive trash these days, it is especially disheartening to find that when it tries to emulate a good movie, it still fails.
If you're thinking about seeing "The Emperor's Club" I suggest you put your wallet away, sit down in front of the TV and tune in to USA to see what this movie could have been.
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