Whiplash is a film I really wanted to like, but almost everyone was so thoroughly unlikeable, I had a really hard time getting behind it. The music teacher, Fletcher, needed to be put on his back in the first thirty minutes of the film – that was obvious.

Certain parts felt like it was preaching musical gymnastics rather than the love of music (faster, faster, faster!) As someone who knows a little bit about playing the drums, the way those drumming students were practicing their speed was a good way to do permanent damage to their wrists and elbows. It’s terrible technique and they would’ve been shredding their drumsticks in the process. I saw lots of blood (too much), but not one broken stick in the whole movie, which is completely unrealistic playing music like that at those speeds.

You would think an expert bandleader like Fletcher would know that good technique is key to developing good drummers and getting the most out of them – but I suppose raging and throwing cymbals and drums around while screaming in their face makes for a better story.

Probably the worst portrayal of a music teacher I’ve ever seen.

The music itself was great though, and so was the acting. Everyone is awful to each other throughout the whole film, but I still recommend it just for the music and the acting, as long as you come out of it knowing that no music teacher or bandleader should ever, ever treat those under them like that. The story didn’t emphasize that enough. In fact, they pretty much excused it. It was hard to watch, but riveting at the same time. Whiplash would’ve been better with more likable characters.

This story and setting seems like it could make a great television show: set in a high-profile music school where the competition between students in the band is intense, as well as the competition between bands – but make the students more likeable and make the bandleader much less of an angry, toxic sociopath. There’s lots of story potential there.

Whiplash is riveting in the same way a car crash is riveting. It’s a good enough movie if you go into it not expecting to be uplifted in any way. It’s more an object lesson on how a teacher shouldn’t treat their students than it is an inspirational story about the love of music. Disappointing.