‘Emperor’s Club’ Hails Education
By Jan Aaron

Paying tribute to Education Update’s seven years, the December movie spotlights education. While the Greek and Roman classics may be rare in today’s classrooms, many modern educators will identify with Kevin Kline’s plight in Michael Hoffman’s The Emperor’s Club as the dedicated assistant headmaster, William Hundert, who tries to use his considerable skills to instruct the spoiled, Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch). Based on Ethan Cronin’s story, “The Palace Thief,” the film is a bit stuffy and old fashioned. Kline plays the devoted educator just right, from his striding on campus to his neat handwriting on the blackboard. He believes in the school’s motto: “The end depends on the beginning.” Standing in for the film’s upscale academy is the prestigious Emma Willard School in Troy, New York.

The action begins in the present as Hundert, now retired after 34 years of teaching at St. Benedict’s Boys Academy for Boys, is at a lavish estate as a guest and muses over the past. It’s the mid-seventies and he’s back at school playing den mother as well as teacher to dedicated students like Deepak Mehta (Rishi Mehta) and the moderately mischievous, Louis Masoudi (Jesse Eisenberg). When the smart, but unruly Bell, a senator’s son, enrolls as a freshman, his antics upend the classroom and he involves the other boys in pranks like trying to seduce girls at a neighboring private school. Immediately, Bell and Hundert become embroiled in a battle of wills which again surface 25 years later. St. Benedict’s encourages excellence with its Mr. Julius Caesar Contest involving essays and a pop quiz featuring three finalists. Hundert bends the rules to give Bell a spot at the top but is deceived by Bell’s cheating during the contest.

Now, in the present, the contest will be held again at the grown up Bell’s palatial resort. Here, the movie missteps a bit: The adult men don’t resemble themselves as youngsters. Will Bell, now a powerful corporate CEO and U.S. Senate candidate, carry his flaws into manhood by cheating in the contest re-run? See “The Emperor’s Club” and find out. (PG-13, 109 minutes, Universal Pictures release; call 777-FILM.)#