The Musical Hits All The Wrong Notes

Sundance Film Review: The Musical
Director: Giselle Bonilla
Megamix, Unapologetic Projects, Sequel, Black Magic
Premiere: 01.25.2026

The biggest problem in so many Hollywood releases these days is a stunning lack of originality and inspiration, as we see rehash after rehash of what’s been done before, and ending up with weak results. The Musical stands as a testament to the notion that independent film can beat Hollywood at its own game by making a terrible film at a fraction of the cost and with less blame to go around. 

Doug Leibowitz (Will Brill, Caught Stealing), a deeply frustrated middle-school drama teacher and failed playwright, spirals when he discovers his ex-girlfriend Abigail (Gillian Jacobs, Community) is now dating the smug Principal Brady (Rob Lowe, St. Elmo’s Fire, Parks & Recreation). Convinced that his professional and personal humiliation is someone else’s fault, Doug plots a petty act of sabotage: writing an intentionally inappropriate school musical that will destroy the principal’s reputation, just as the school is chasing a major academic award. As rehearsals unfold, Doug’s grand plan collides with the earnest enthusiasm of his young performers, whose excitement only highlights his own immaturity. What begins as a joke curdles into self-exposure, forcing Doug to confront the line between artistic freedom and selfish cruelty. 

The Musical plays out like a dumbfoundingly obnoxious variation on Richard Linklater‘s 2003 classic School of Rock, in the sense that most of the action revolves around a selfish teacher lying to a group of kids and rehearsing a secret performance for his own ends. All that Alexander Heller‘s half-baked script does to shake things up is replace the phrase “The Man” with “The Machine.” And where Jack Black‘s Dewey Finn learned a lesson along the way and found a better version of himself, Doug remains the same bitter, unhinged, obsessed and possessive narcissist throughout. His self-destructive and just plain destructive spiral is neither interesting nor amusing; it’s just infuriating and pathetic. 

In the right hands, the concept might have played out if Doug had not been the point-of-view character, and if the movie had instead followed a well-meaning friend, coworker or one of the students, who realized what was going on and tried to put a stop to it. As it is, we’re left wondering who we’re rooting for and why, and what on earth made the filmmakers think this was working. The performance of the show itself, which is edgy, outrageous and had the Malinda of comedy gold, is rushed and only presented in brief snippets so that more time can be devoted to watching an angry misogynist poison the minds of children. 

Brill’s characterization of Doug is capably done, and it’s a strong performance that establishes a believable character — albeit one that’s grueling to be stuck with for the length of a feature. Jacobs and Lowe paint with broad strokes and their characters are too peripheral to get a handle on, though ultimately they are merely plot devices to get Brill’s Doug to a place where he can do what he does. The film leans into Brady’s smarminess and Abigail’s cluelessness about Doug’s feelings in order for the audience to take some degree of glee in the proceedings, leaving the huge question of just what the hell, if anything, this movie is trying to say. Ultimately, what it says is “you just threw away 87 minutes of your life.”

The Musical is a phenomenal disappointment that is best forgotten entirely. Nobody should be taking any bows for this one; they should be hiding in their dressing rooms. It’s rare that I see a film that has almost no redeeming qualities, but The Musical comes close, and at best it’s an interestingly confusing failure. —Patrick Gibbs 

Read more of SLUG’s coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.