Rated R (Sexual Content, Nudity, Language
and Some Drug Use)
Running Time: 1 Hour & 32 Minutes
Cast:
Cameron Diaz-Elizabeth Halsey
Lucy Punch-Amy Squirrel
Justin Timberlake-Scott Delacorte
Jason Segel-Russell Gettis
Phyllis Smith-Lynn Davies
John Michael Higgins-Principal Wally Snur
Eric Stonestreet-Kirk
Thomas Lennon-Carl Halabi
Matthew J. Evans-Garrett Tiara
Kaitlyn Dever-Sasha Abernathy
Kathryn Newton-Chase Rubin-Rossi
Directed by Jake Kasdan
 |
| I wouldn't mind if Cameron Diaz was my middle school teacher! |
Despite all the ongoing issues plaguing
our country’s education system, “Bad Teacher” could’ve ended up being
offensive but it turned out to be a lot funnier than I initially expected,
reveling in its lack of morals and potentially sexist, misogynistic overtones
without any apology or shame. The film’s outrageous, high-concept premise is
certainly novel but it’s also its weakness as the plot is rather predictable,
moving and ending the way you’d expect. However, it makes up for it with a
strong cast, whose interactions as obvious caricatures provides quite a few
laughs, especially the adorable Lucy Punch.
Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is
a teacher at John Adams Middle School who’s leaving after only one year as she
is about to be married to a very wealthy man, allowing her have a work-free
future. We learn though a flashback that she did the bare minimum as a teacher
and coasted through the school year, avoiding the rest of the faculty and
students. Unfortunately, her fiancé’s mother sees through her and realizes she
is nothing but a gold-digger, discovering that she burned through $16,000 of
the family’s money in one month and convinces her son to call off the wedding.
Fast forward three months later and Halsey has returned to teaching at John
Adams Middle School. Her only ‘friend’ in the faculty is an awkward teacher
named Lynn Davies (Phyllis Smith) but Halsey often takes advantage of her niceness,
such as when Lynn treats her to lunch and she blatantly snatches food off her
plate. A gym teacher named Russell Gettis (Jason Segal) is attracted to Halsey
and tries again and again to land a date but is rejected every time. Looking
for a way out of her miserable job as a teacher, Halsey decides to get plastic
surgery and have her breasts enlarged to compete with all the ‘fresh talent.’
However, she is unable to afford it with her measly salary as the operation
costs $100,000. A new substitute teacher, Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake),
arrives at school and Halsey immediately sinks her claws into him, learning
that he comes from a wealthy, watch-making family. Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), a
peppy, eternally cheerful teacher, also takes a liking to Delacorte and her
rivalry with Halsey soon escalates into one outrageous situation after another.
“Bad Teacher” has a predictable plot and it ends the way you’d expect it to be.
Cameron Diaz’s Elizabeth Halsey is a bitchy, shallow, sex-crazed, drug-using
gold-digger who hates teaching (although how she managed to earn her license is
a big mystery) but comes to realize her penchant for helping students who are
social outcasts. This isn’t a spoiler as it’s made quite clear in the initial
trailers that this was the direction the story was taking, although Halsey
realizing the error of her ways comes off as a little too sudden and is not
sufficiently well-developed. Even the requisite romance that develops between
Halsey and another character that I won’t spoil is by-the-numbers, so despite
the fresh premise, director Jake Kasdan’s familiar approach to the story is
what keeps the film from truly shining.
However, the cast provides a lot of
laughs and manages to overcome the deficiencies of the script. All the
characters are really just obvious, big cartoon caricatures that it almost
becomes satirical. Diaz is a perfect fit for Halsey, reveling in her shallow
ways and making no qualms about hiding it. During a school car wash fundraiser,
she comes in dressed in nothing but Daisy Dukes with a red-colored plaid top
and proceeds to do a sexually suggestive burlesque routine on all the cars as
she soaks herself with a sponge. All the men (and even the clearly lesbian
girls’ volleyball coach) are entranced by this. One male student is shown to
have a massive erection! I must admit, Diaz has perfectly toned legs. As she
grades her class’ test papers, her ‘corrections’ become more profanity-laced
and even utilizes an unusual punishment/reward system involving a dodge-ball
with her students. Her character strikes a fine balance between totally
unlikable and somewhat redeemable, which is actually a good thing because an
unsympathetic one would risk alienating the audience. Still, it is Lucy Punch
who steals all the scenes with her perky, over-enthusiastic behavior when it
comes to school. Punch is actually British and some might recognize her as
Holly Ellenbogen on the short-lived television sitcom “The Class.” She’s rather
cute and adorable in the role and there’s this hilarious scene where she
unsuccessfully tries to convince the school’s principal, Wally Snur (John
Michael Higgins), that Halsey is doing drugs and befitting her namesake makes
this squirrel-like face with her teeth when she doesn’t get her way, prompting
Snur to yell, ‘Do not do that with your mouth!’ Her character even goes so far
as to barge into the men’s room and sit on a urinal while Snur is inside a
stall as she accuses Halsey of embezzling money from the car wash. Of course,
Amy Squirrel is actually just as conniving and manipulative as Halsey, except
she hides it behind the phony veneer of a sunny personality. Holden Caulfield
would hate her very much.
Although Justin Timberlake as a nerdy substitute
teacher isn’t believable, his boring political correctness where he just simply
agrees with everyone is fun to watch and it’s almost like his character is a
winking nod to the film’s crass nature. Apparently, his idea of a good time is
dry humping and we even get a shot of his stained jeans afterwards! Phyllis
Smith is playing a variation of her character on the television series “The
Office” as an awkward, second-guessing teacher while Jason Segal is the
‘normal’ straight guy, reacting with deadpan humor and sarcasm at everything
going on around him. You might also recognize Eric Stonestreet from “Modern
Family,” who plays Halsey’s eccentric roommate and has a hilarious scene
involving blackmailing an official from a test-making company.
“Bad Teacher”
was released on June 24, 2011 and has received mixed reviews with 46% on Rotten
Tomatoes. Critics felt that ‘in spite of a promising concept and a charmingly
brazen performance from Cameron Diaz, [the film] is never as funny as it should
be.’ It is competing with Pixar’s latest sequel “Cars 2,” whose animated films
has always expected to be both critical and commercial successes but in a
strange turn of events, has received worse reviews compared to “Bad Teacher.”
Granted, “Cars” was less about telling a worthwhile story and more about its
massive merchandising potential. “Bad Teacher” will be settling for a second
place but with a better-than-predicted $30 million for opening weekend. While
it provides ninety minutes of hilarity, “Bad Teacher” never strives for
anything more and settles for a tried-and-true but predictable story. It may
not earn a passing grade at originality but when it comes to laughs, it passes
with flying colors.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5
“When I first started teaching, I thought
that I was doing it for all the right reasons: shorter hours, summers off, no
accountability...”
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