Bad Teacher Review

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...”