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Writer's pictureRonny Duncan Studios

Whiplash (2014)

Updated: Oct 16, 2022


Plot Summary: Young musician (Miles Teller) in a conservatory meets with an overly aggressive teacher (JK Simmons) who tries to push him toward greatness until everything inevitably explodes.


*Recognition: Nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay, Won for Best Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Supporting Actor (JK Simmons)


What is this movie is about?: "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job."


Best Performance: Damien Chazelle (Director)/JK Simmons (Fletcher)

Best Secondary Performance: JK Simmons (Fletcher)/Damien Chazelle (Director)

Most Charismatic Award: JK Simmons (Fletcher)


Best Scene:

  • Crash

  • Caravan

  • Opening

  • You Earned It

  • Not My Tempo

  • At the Movies/Aftermath

  • Good Job

Favorite Scene: Caravan

Most Indelible Moment: Caravan


Best Lines:

Terence Fletcher: There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job.


Andrew Nieman: But is there a line? You know, maybe you go too far and discourage the next Charlie Parker from ever becoming Charlie Parker?

Terence Fletcher: No, man, no. Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged.


Terence Fletcher: Were you rushing or were you dragging? If you deliberately sabotage my band, I will f*** you like a pig. Oh my dear God - are you one of those single tear people? You are a worthless pansy-ass who is now weeping and slobbering all over my drumset like a nine year old girl!


Andrew Nieman: I think being the greatest musician of the 21st century is anybody's idea of success.

Jim: Dying broke and drunk and full of heroin at the age of 34 is not exactly my idea of success.

Andrew Nieman: I'd rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remember who I was.


Terence Fletcher: I don't think people understood what it was I was doing at Shaffer. I wasn't there to conduct. Any f***ing moron can wave his arms and keep people in tempo. I was there to push people beyond what's expected of them. I believe that is... an absolute necessity. Otherwise, we're depriving the world of the next Louis Armstrong. The next Charlie Parker. I told you about how Charlie Parker became Charlie Parker, right? Andrew: Jo Jones threw a cymbal at his head. Terence Fletcher: Exactly. Parker's a young kid, pretty good on the sax. Gets up to play at a cutting session, and he f***s it up. And Jones nearly decapitates him for it. And he's laughed off-stage. Cries himself to sleep that night, but the next morning, what does he do? He practices. And he practices and he practices with one goal in mind, never to be laughed at again. And a year later, he goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage, and plays the best motherf***ing solo the world has ever heard. So imagine if Jones had just said: "Well, that's okay, Charlie. That was all right. Good job. "And then Charlie thinks to himself, "Well, shit, I did do a pretty good job." End of story. No Bird. That, to me, is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. People wonder why jazz is dying.


Funniest Line:

N/A


The Stanley Rubric:

Legacy: 7.25

Impact/Significance: 7.75

Novelty: 9.25

Classic-ness: 6.75

Rewatchability: 8.25

Audience Score: 9.4

Total: 48.65


Remaining Questions:

  • Does Andrew succeed?

  • Was Fletcher just fucking with him at the end or pushing him?

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