A movie about a musical essentially mocking and calling 9/11 a hoax was not on my 2026 bingo card, but The Musical, directed by Giselle Bonilla in her debut and written by Alexander Heller in his first feature length outing, is a bold and outrageous comedy that could be likened to a much darker version of School of Rock, albeit unlikely to go down as much of a classic as that.

The Musical is predominantly focused on theatrical teacher Doug Leibowitz (Will Brill). On the surface, he is a mild mannered man growing more disillusioned by the day in his role as a middle school teacher rather than the playwright he dreams of becoming on Broadway. His frustrations are exacerbated further when he is forced to confront the reality that his recent ex girlfriend and fellow teacher at Cedarhurst Middle School, Abigail (Gillian Jacobs), has begun dating Doug’s self sworn enemy, Principal Brady (Rob Lowe), a slimy and self righteous man hellbent on making the school as politically correct as possible.

With everything going on around him, and in light of his ex’s extremely public displays of affection for her new man, Doug is verging on a complete mental breakdown. In a bid for revenge on Brady for “stealing” his woman, and with a prestigious award in sight for the school in the form of the Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence, Doug shelves plans for a production of West Side Story, a total crowd pleaser for the awards judges, in favour of staging the 9/11 musical after a paper aeroplane comedically destroys a miniature version of Manhattan before his very eyes.

Undoubtedly, the movie won’t work for everyone. It is unapologetically dark in its humour and will be hard to watch for some, but with Will Brill at the helm, whose comedic chops are very similar to those of Tim Robinson, it somehow works fantastically well. It has been a long time since a movie has made me laugh out loud as much as The Musical, and that cannot be understated. I am not talking about a chuckle here and a chuckle there, but full scale belly laughs at the sheer audacity of some of the jokes. Nothing is safe or off limits, with Heller’s script taking swings at cultural diversity in particular, landing brutal jabs at DEI in the process, as well as religion in all its forms. And it is not just the production itself either, with notable moments where Brill’s Doug grills the kids too. Remarkably, given the nature of the material, all of the children show great comedic timing, keeping the momentum hurtling forwards like a freight train.

The Musical does not shy away from showing Doug’s deteriorating mental state, with Bonilla utilising narration as Doug’s inner monologue to evidence his growing disdain towards Abigail and Principal Brady. It does not always land, but in service of the film’s relentlessly high octane pace, it feels appropriate, as there is barely a second where it lingers on anything.

There is a moment in The Musical where the kids are dressed as planes hurtling towards cardboard versions of the Twin Towers where I briefly thought, has this gone too far? That feeling quickly dissipated as it became clear that the movie is so much more than just a dark comedy. Instead, it takes a big swing at “woke culture” while doing so in a non serious, non harmful way, although I am absolutely convinced there will be people who argue otherwise until the cows come home. Either way, The Musical, with its insanely funny script, wild direction and brilliant performances, is throwing its hat into the ring as the funniest movie you will have seen in a very long time.