| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

There are still moments when the tone is uncertain and the actors visibly struggle, but for the most part there's a freshness about the performances that could probably not have been achieved in any other way.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 14, 2007

Chalk might have been both funnier and more penetrating as a real documentary.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 14, 2007

Chalk is a gentle mockumentary about high school teachers -- so gentle, you wonder why anyone bothered. So gentle, it verges on 'what's the point?'

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 7, 2007

The movie offers some modest, amusing and true lessons about an honorable profession.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 28, 2007

Chalk is a message from the horse's mouth, and is thereby humorously instructive without ever becoming sarcastic or judgmental.

Full Review | Jun 13, 2007

The indie film is funny and, at times, heartbreaking. Wisely, it avoids the happy ending that Hollywood would have insisted upon.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 8, 2007

An unassuming indie comedy that just happens to be terrific, Mike Akel's deceptively modest debut is, unfortunately, as likely to go unrewarded as the thousands of teachers who do a great job with little acknowledgment.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 8, 2007

So convincingly acted that if it didn't include brief interludes in which the grown-ups suddenly break into musical-comedy mode or reflect out loud in video diary segments, you might not guess it is fiction.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 8, 2007

Its honest storytelling and painfully funny moments make up for the thrown-together feel.

| Jun 6, 2007

Chalk was actually shot in a loose, improvisational manner modeled after the films of Christopher Guest, and its best set-pieces are like devastatingly effective pin pricks at the Hollywood hot-air balloon of inspirational teacher/coach melodramas.

| Jun 6, 2007

Chalk mines nervous laughter from the gulf between teacher and student culture, and the contrast between how its simultaneously self-conscious and oblivious teachers see themselves, and how the rest of the world sees them.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 2, 2007

Chalk approaches the painful social awkwardness of The Office.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 2, 2007

The definition of a missed opportunity.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 1, 2007

An A-for-effort novelty that, by the end, barely musters a passing grade.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 24, 2007

The film is effective as situational workplace comedy but the air of futility is particularly thick for these working slobs.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 22, 2007

Squirm-inducing but very funny mock documentary shows real empathy for its subjects.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 11, 2007

What's most refreshing about the genial and well-observed Chalk is that it describes the high school experience from the of teachers' point of view.

Full Review | Dec 30, 2006

This loosely scripted satire mostly steers clear of cheap shots and over-the-top gags, balancing its comic observations with a real measure of affection for teachers and students alike.

| Dec 30, 2006