'The Musical' Review: Somehow, This Movie About a 9/11 Play Isn’t Dark Enough

From the very beginning of The Musical by director Giselle Bonilla, there’s a bitterness and self-righteous indignation that permeates the entire story of a teacher who believes himself to be wronged and has to take it out on everyone else. As this middle school theater teacher, Doug (Will Brill), says late in the film, “Everyone talks about the power of love, but no one talks about the power of spite.” And Bonilla’s film packs spite into every frame of The Musical, differentiating itself from other “we have to put on a show”-type comedies like Theater Camp or Hamlet 2. While The Musical tries to lean into the frustration and anger of its main character, unlike Doug, the film’s main issue might be that it’s not mean-spirited and dark enough to entirely sell this story.

'The Musical' Puts On an Unhinged Middle School Show

The Musical finds Doug returning to school after a disappointing summer. Not only is Doug not where he wanted to be — stuck teaching middle school theater while he wants to become a playwright like Eugene O’Neill — but his relationship with fellow teacher Abigail (Gillian Jacobs) led to them going on a break. But with school back in session, Will finds that this "break" has been completely broken, as Abigail is now dating Principal Brady (Rob Lowe).

Full of animosity towards these two new love birds, Doug comes up with a way to bring down Brady, who is always so concerned about what other people think. While the school believes that Doug is putting on a version of West Side Story, he’s actually putting on a highly problematic play called Heroes, which essentially tells the story of 9/11, complete with a recreation of the Twin Towers being hit by a plane, and a musical number featuring Rudy Giuliani. If Doug is going to go down as a joke to these people, he’s going to take everyone down with him.

'The Musical's Will Brill Is a Theater Teacher With a Score To Settle

Brill, who recently won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in Stereophonic, is just the right type of menacing and disgruntled to make this character work. He’s acidic, for sure, but for the most part, he manages to keep us on his side as he goes down this rabbit hole. It’s also a role that highlights the indignation of a white man who doesn’t get his way, and how destructive that can be. It's a performance that never goes over the top too far, as it’s easy to see how amping up Doug too much in one direction could completely damn this story. Bonilla, screenwriter Alexander Heller, and Brill all handle this delicate push-and-pull quite well, with a concept that could have easily gone over the line.

Since The Musical is so set on Doug’s perspective of this incident, that means the rest of the cast doesn’t really have much of an opportunity to shine. Gillian Jacobs is a hilarious actress who truly hasn’t been utilized enough in projects, and here, the same problem exists, as she’s little more than the one that got away from Doug’s creepy grasp. Rob Lowe makes it out a little bit better, as his nitpicking over making sure his school doesn’t offend anyone is humorous in an intentionally exhausting sort of way.

Brill’s real co-stars, though, are the kids in his class, and they’re basically game for anything in this production, which is part of the fun. Just watching these kids enact Doug’s pathetic plan leads to some of the funniest moments in the film, and it’s just ludicrous enough to keep this movie amusing. The Musical is building to the big reveal of this wild show, and it’s the kids trying to make this show come together that really makes this concept work.

'The Musical' Is a Dark Comedy That Doesn't Go Far Enough With Its Darkness

Granted, Bonilla, Heller, and Brill have a fine line they need to walk to ensure The Musical doesn’t go off the rails, but given where it ends up, it’s a bit disappointing The Musical doesn’t lean into its darkness a bit harder. There are a few moments when Doug gets a little too honest with his students, who are understandably confused by this changing show, and Doug never hides his spite for Abigail throughout the film. Yet, considering what we know this show in the end is going to entail, one almost wishes the rest of The Musical embraced the dark humor of this situation. For the most part, the payoff is a success, but the rest of the film doesn’t quite match the darkness that we know we’re heading towards.

As Doug says, “the superpower of the theater is the element of surprise,” and while that’s true of the audience who will eventually watch his 9/11-themed show, that element of surprise is mostly lost on the audience watching the film itself. We know exactly where this show is going from the title screen on, and the glimpses we get of the show already hint at what the conclusion has in store for us. Maybe it’s not that The Musical needed to be more consistently dark throughout to match the ending, but rather, the film itself should’ve done a better job of practicing what it preaches concerning the element of surprise.

The Musical’s presentation isn’t always a success, and it doesn’t always hit throughout as well as one would hope. However, the way Bonilla, Heller, and Brill handle the film’s narrative, without ever becoming too acrid and ensuring that Doug never becomes a character we hate, is impressive. Again, The Musical is a film that really has to know what tone it wants to have to work, and while it’s easy to wish this could get darker than it does, it’s also easy to understand how that could make this whole tower topple over. Even if The Musical isn’t always a hit, it’s worth it when the film does find its high notes.

The Musical premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.