US
Drama
Feature Film
2002

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Frankly, I found The Emperor's Club to be a bit on the dull side, despite Kevin Klein's wonderful performance. The story was too formulaic, or too familiar. It reminded me strongly of Dead Poet's Society -- which captivated me much, much more.

Anyway, here's the basic recipe for The Emperor's Club:

Ingredients:
1 posh boy's school
1 earnest classics teacher
1 rebellious student
1 prestigious competition
1 moral dilemma

Establish boy's school with earnest teacher educating a rapt group of students. Add the rebellious student and stir the pot. When bubbling nicely, introduce the prestigious competition, and simmer. Once the prestigious competition is well-cooked, introduce the moral dilemma and resolve.

Refrigerate for several years, then take the concoction out and repeat.

The acting was fine, it's just that there were no surprises for me. The classic teacher's moral dilemma wasn't that dangerous to his own character. I think that if the story had revolved around the Julius Caesar contest, and the rebellious student's decision to choose one path over another, that would have been much more compelling. But they chose to tell the story twice -- once in the past and once in the present -- and that, I think, was once too many.