The story, of course, revolves around the life of Mr. Holland(Richard Dreyfuss), an inspired composer who takes a teaching job at a local high school during the 1950's so that he can compose on his free time and eventually create a masterpiece that will bring him both rich and famous.  However, from the moment he steps in that classroom, things don't turn out that easy as he becomes more and more frustrated with his students poor test scores and lack of participation.  Now at this point, it would seem that Mr. Holland would be better off just sticking to composing instead of dealing with a bunch of rascals who couldn't give two shits about what he has to say about music.  However, instead of giving up and taking the easy route, Mr. Holland reaches deep inside himself and exposes these blooming adolescence to the origin of their favorite rock n' roll tunes, which not only makes the class more bearable for his students but also makes the teaching experience that much more easier and enjoyable for Mr. Holland as he is able to slip bits and pieces of the classics into his curriculum while keeping the focus towards the more "modern" hits so that he can keep his students engaged while educating them on new types of music.  This method is the starting point in which Mr. Holland truly finds his passion for teaching, because he his not only able to capture the attention of his students, but is also in the process enjoying the fact these kids are actually learning something and its all because of him that they love his class.  At points throughout the film, he does deal with specific students who are having trouble finding their places in his class; such as Gertrude Lang, a perfectionist who believes she isn't good at anything until Mr. Holland teaches her how to play the clarinet by taking aspects of her life and telling her to convey them through music, which results in some truly magnificent pieces.  There is also the stereotypical slacker/jock who was kicked off the football team because of his grades, and his only taking music so he boost his grades.  At first, this seems like a lost cause because this athlete as expected has never picked up and instrument in his entire life, and what do you do with a kid who sucks at all the other instruments? Why, you make him play the bass drum of course!  Now this easier said than then, since the kid has seemingly no rhythm which makes teaching to play quite a hassle, but as time goes on Mr. Holland is able to make him a bass drumming guru, turning him into the one thing he thought he would never be: a happy and content band geek.  These are just several of the many people's lives Mr. Holland effects throughout the film, and really makes this movie stand out from any other because the interesting and captivating personal stories conveyed accurately through the music of each character.

Of course, what kind of drama would this be without a little personal conflict?  While initially everything seems find and dandy, with Mr. Holland's new career going so smoothly and the arrival of a new born son, what could possibly go wrong?  Well as it ironically turns out, Mr. Holland's son is actually born deaf, which really complicates things because this is Mr. Holland's passion and its all he knows, which makes raising a son who is permanently deaf is a real hassle.  However, Mr. Holland does eventually learn to accept his son for his unintentional faults, and his able to covey his music through other methods which really shows how important it is for Mr. Holland to share his passion with the ones that he loves.  I won't lie though, it wears a little thin after a while, with Mr. Holland jumping back and forth between his kid and his teaching it can get a tad annoying especially when you just watched an emotional and powerful scene with Mr. Holland creating a musical, then being immediately dumped into the cliche scene of "wife gets pissed at husband for spending too much time at work, neglecting their disabled child, etc." It's all stuff we've seen before, and even though its their for some sort of realism, it does sometimes break up the pacing of the movie too erratically which can sometime take you out of the moment.

Besides this though, the writing and story direction are spot on, with the Mr. Holland's teaching career chronicled perfectly from the a simple graduation in the beginning to an epic musical that truly shows how far Mr. Holland as come in terms of teaching his students, and also how he has evolved into an masterful composer.  The cast for the most part is perfectly conveyed in this film, with each actor seeming to fit in perfectly to their individual characters perfectly as is they had been them for years.  Sure there is the typical asshole teacher you see in most school films, but he does a solid job at playing his role, and doesn't appear to often thankfully, which as result keeps the film from hitting to many roadblocks

In the end, Mr. Holland's Opus is by and large, a emotional drama that admittedly does have its share of touchy feely moments, but they are portrayed in such a realistic and believable manner, thats it really hard not to get sucked into those types of moments. Even if your in to these types of films, you should at least give it a rent if only so you can see the captivating and emotional unfolding of one of the most heartfelt and enjoyable movies of all time.