Teacher of the Year

The Netflix rating for this movie is one out of five stars. It rates five out of five on Rotten Tomatoes, and 5.3 out of 10 here on IMDb. The fact that the reviews are all over the place almost surely reflects Americans' ambivalence about teachers and public schools (or charter schools that are publicly funded, like the one represented here). My husband and I, both longtime educators, thought that this mockumentary was the most authentic representation of our profession that we have seen. Teaching is tough. It's tough when your students do not respond to your efforts, and, yes, it is even tough when you are "Teacher of the Year."

Not that this is a humorless drama...not at all. It is hilarious because it captures how completely awkward and totally out of the box each day is when you work in this type of school. The teachers in this film display the full range of creativity, grit, anger, envy, compassion and depleted ego that comes with a high-intensity, socially essential job that is often completely disrespected and poorly remunerated.

Truman High is a charter high school in southwest Los Angeles. Its students come from neighborhoods that they would like to be able to leave, and some students will succeed and likely make it in life. The teachers seem committed to making this happen, but many of the students don't seem to care.

English teacher and soccer coach Mitch Carter is Teacher of the Year for California. Many of the students like him. But he has a chance at a high-paying job which will involve a lot of travel, and even though he loves teaching, it has its problems. And he has a wife who doesn't like her advertising job, which allows her to work from home a lot, and an adorable daughter and another baby on the way.

The movie is a documentary, though it's obvious early that it is too silly to be real, and we see there are actors playing cast members. But almost the entire movie is the documentary, and while we may forget the cameras are there, there are often signs that these people are being followed around, and sometimes they want what they say to be private. The person making the documentary actually speaks a number of times but is not seen.

Also, the documentary has a lot more than just Mitch's story. It almost seems to be about the school, its teachers, and the problem students.

Parents come in when their children have done something wrong. Some care, some think their kids can do no wrong, some don't understand why their kids are being criticized.

One teacher is falsely accused of an offense by a student and nearly fired. I won't say how his situation turns out, but the plot does show what a good man Mitch is.

Will Mitch leave the school? I can't answer that question because, for one thing, I'm not sure the question ever gets answered.

Be sure to stay around after the words "The End", which come prematurely. There are lots of outtakes, and the last few are bloopers.

Matt Lescher does a good job. Most of the actors here do.

Keegan-Michael Key is Principal Douche. The name is Dutch and not pronounced like one would expect. Except by just about every student and anyone who is mad at him. Douche tries too hard to be cool and is not respected by anyone. And if he tries to discipline students, they just don't listen. I am reminded of Barney Fife yelling and waving his hands, and Sheriff Taylor actually getting the job done. There is a vice-principal who hands out detention to nearly every student he sees, at least in the finished film, but people don't seem to take him much more seriously. I question if anyone is in charge at this place.

Jason and Randy Sklar are the Hammer brothers who are the school's college counselors. I wouldn't recommend taking advice from either one of them. They are very strange.

I'm not absolutely certain, but I think Jamie Kaler is the robotics teacher. He is serious about getting his students to do well, but he has an attitude problem. He is jealous of Mitch's success and doesn't think much of second place. And in one scene he is just plain cruel to his students. But don't be too concerned. They seem a lot happier at the end when the same scene gets messed up in one of the bloopers.

Caitlin Carmichael is so cute as Mitch's young daughter. I like his wife too.

Shari Belafonte also stands out but has only a few lines.

This movie is not for the kids. One teacher uses the proper language when describing sex. But I'm not sure kids are ready for that. They're not ready for a lot of the humor here. Another teacher makes a tasteless Helen Keller joke, but the kids seem to respond to her style.

Do I recommend the film? Of course. It has a good mix of humor, inspiring stories, and moral dilemmas.

I have to tell you, this is not a "comedy", this is actually a very seriously crafted, scripted drama, like a true story, an in-your-face/up-close- and-personal documentary, recorded right on the site, at the school, at home, with candid camera works, faithfully caught all important moments of how those teachers dealt with the students and with themselves.

When you watched it, you just felt that you were right in front of the teacher the camera was shot at and recording, it felt like it's you who was holding the camera, following the teacher(s), into the classrooms.

The camera realistically exposed what the true colors of all the teachers, what they really were, what they were thinking. Some of the teachers in this film just gave you the impression that they really existed in all the public/charter/private schools. Some of them were self-centered, self-righteous, self- important, obnoxious, arrogant, moronic, evil, stubborn, or self- serving only to themselves. And unfortunately, some of the teachers were just helpless, frustrated, even hopeless and failing to get connected with their students. But some of the teachers indeed were very good, very decent and so passionate in teaching, loving and caring.

This movie really showed us how a teacher could be greater to the other ones, and some of them were just pricks, like the science teacher, the two brothers who did the poor college counseling, and the vice principal who kept issuing penalty tickets to students without any probable cause. And the principal in this film just looked so real, and we completely believe there were principals just like him in our education system, they are bureaucrats instead of educators, they are only self-centered and self-serving to their own careers.

This is an amazing movie that have caught my complete attention and focus during viewing and it also turned out to be such a great viewing experience; a rare one, by the way.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie, but I actually liked it a lot. One of the better "Mockumentary" style films I have seen, and possibly one of my favorites.

Basically Keegan Micheal Key is hilarious as Principal Douche, and the other supporting comedic actors keep it funny, but at the heart of it is a very good story with some depth too which made me want to find out what would happen next. As a "Mockumentary" though it is not a typical style comedy with typical style jokes every minute. It has some serious moments, but plenty of funny stuff too. Making it one of the better Mockumentaries in many years in my opinion.

Do not expect a typical film and let it take you where it will go, very funny and really well done.

This is underrated. Yes, it is somewhat meaningless, silly, and ridiculous, but that is what comedy often turns out being. Especially a mockumentary. It is for a couple hours where audiences can be entertained and laugh, not necessarily in order to be intellectually simulated or to leave with some great new wisdom having been imparted.

Characters range from very funny and quirky (robotics teacher) to downright asinine (gay guidance counselors).

Take note that to have "Teacher Of The Year" brazenly advertised on a poster and what looks to be everything included in the advertising material for this film with Keegan-Michael Key's profile picture is a serious misnomer. He is in but a fraction of the scenes and is the principal for Truman High School. Not even a teacher, and certainly not the winner of the Teacher Of The Year award, the star of the show, and the protagonist around whom the entire mockumentary revolves around, a teacher played by Matt Letscher. Who accordingly is in almost every scene.

From my time as a tutor and feedback from other teachers, putting the implausible aspects aside, the general philosophies, anecdotal going ons with students and their parents, the plentitude of frustrations that go along with the daily grind, and the more positive emotional effects of being a teacher- particularly in a public high school- are actually very relatable. Plus, the takeaway message, if you can say this has one, is realistic while still remaining positive- Yes, we should all do what we love, but we should also do what we need to for the people we love!

Good takeaway message? Funny and relatable? Mockumentary with memorable characters? Triple checks! Recommended fast more than the critics would have you believe.