Metronome lost in the whiplash

I just got around to seeing Whiplash, a movie the critics are raving about as "exhilarating," "outstanding" and "electrifying." But I just want to go yell at writer-director Damien Chazelle: "Do you know what a [expletive] metronome is? Maybe if I stick one up your [expletive] you'll be [expletive]ing quarter notes for the rest of your miserable uncle-[expletive]ing life! Maybe I should also stick a jazz history book up in there while I'm at it!"

As Drill Sergeant Fletcher (J. K. Simmons) berates the young drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) about his failure to keep proper tempo, yell-asking "Are you rushing or dragging?", he points to the metronome marking at the top of the chart, but it doesn't occur to anyone to take out a metronome to see what the real tempo is supposed to be. If it's so important to have your music conservatory professor yelling at the student, the results of the metronome comparison leave plenty of room for further berating: if it turns out Andrew had the right tempo after all, Fletcher could just berate him for not sticking to his guts.

But I'm a nitpicker, not a critic. There are much more fundamental problems with this movie than forgetting a piece of technology or fumbling a music history factoid. J. R. Jones hits the nail on the head with his review in the Chicago Reader.