Bad Teacher

The gold digger Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) quits her job as a teacher at the JAM High School expecting to marry her wealthy fiancé. However, he calls off their engagement and Elizabeth returns to the school.

Elizabeth is reckless, incompetent, pothead and does not give any attention to the students and her coworkers, and she shows movies to her students along the classes. The envious teacher Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch) hates Elizabeth and they are estranged to each other.

When Elizabeth meets the substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), she discovers that he is very rich and she flirts with him. Further, she learns that Scott likes big breasts and she decides to have a surgery of silicone-implant. She needs to raise US$ 10,000.00 for the breast-implant, and she learns that the teacher that gets the best scores in the state exam would receive US$ 5,700.00 bonus. Elizabeth changes her attitude and teaches her students to prepare them for the exams. However, Elizabeth uses an unethical means to win the competition and Amy seeks evidences to prove that Elizabeth has cheated the exams.

"Bad Teacher" is a politically incorrect, brainless but very hilarious film. Cameron Diaz performs the most awful teacher of cinema history, the opposite of Sidney Poitier in "To Sir with Love"; Edward James Olmos in "Stand and Deliver" or Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous Minds". Elizabeth Halsey is a slut, pothead, reckless, gold digger, corrupter, cheater, blackmailer and everything that is not good. But I Laughed a lot with this forgettable film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Professora sem Classe" ("Teacher without Class")

Bad Teacher is a great concept that resulted in a style of humor like most of the Adult Swim cartoons you see today: When the jokes hit they hit well, but when they miss, they miss quite badly. The cast was delightful, but could only go so far with the material. As a matter of fact, it was the cast that saved the movie from being a total disaster by providing their comedic chops, their charm, and their good comic timing that you don't see enough of nowadays. Despite all that however, Bad teacher is a shiny apple with a few rotten parts.

Elizabeth Hasley (Cameron Diaz) is a foul-mouthed, bitter, and quite nasty teacher that is keeping the job only to pay the bills after her rich fiancée dumps her. Facing debt, aging, and loneliness, Elizabeth starts setting her sights on a boob job and on a new (rich) teacher (Justin Timberlake), whom has also captured the attention of a manipulative rival (Lucy Punch). The script was helmed by two veteran writers of The Office (Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg) as they use their non-television ratings boundaries to mix plenty of vulgar and raunchy humor with even some tidbits of cruel humor. Unfortunately, their lack of boundaries led to a mediocre script.

This film's biggest falters come in the form of the script. Despite the promise in the premise and the cast involved, the script was convoluted, and didn't have much structure until the second half. As a matter of fact, the film switches up the pace very unexpectedly when the next act approaches. Pretty much almost all the crude and vulgar humor failed to draw laughs, with one notable exception involving one of the odder "sex" scenes in recent memory. The movie was a great idea not exactly explored upon, and was full of smaller ideas that were not utilized. Many good smaller characters did not get enough time in the script; most notably the students, the gym teacher (Jason Segal) and the main character's roommate (Erik Stonestreet).

Despite the writing being a fickle mess, the cast was superb, from the small roles to the big ones. Cameron Diaz I can honestly say is one of the most underrated talents in Hollywood, because she rarely ever delivers a mediocre or weak performance. She has this aura, this energy that can save the worst of films (See: What Happens in Vegas) and it is no different here. Despite her smoking/drinking/vulgar/manipulative/cynical/cruel/superficial ways, we still secretly root for her to succeed in reaching her goal. Very few actresses can pull off this type of charm.

Lucy Punch, despite having a bit of questionable material, delivers as Diaz's rival. Jason Segal could have helped the movie a lot more if he was in it more often, as he delivered the laughs every time he was on-screen with his wit, sarcasm, and I-don't-care attitude. Television staples Phyllis Smith and Erik Stonestreet were hilarious in the far-too-few moments they were on-screen. The movie does indeed have its laughs, but the potential was so much greater considering all the talented actors involved.

Jake Kasdan as a director doesn't have much of a resume, but he does have the comedic chops and timing, and he proved this with the underrated Walk Hard. With Bad Teacher, he did not have as much good material to work with but could have still helped the movie if he had tightened the first third of the movie better. There was a lot more unnecessary fluff in the first half of the movie compared to the second half. Smaller plot lines were never resolved, certain jokes literally fell off without a punchline, and certain situations were brought up but never explored. Many concepts were also never explored: especially that of how shallow and shady we all become towards each other in the workforce.

Bottom Line: Bad Teacher was a great idea, poorly executed, but relentlessly saved by the energetic cast. This movie could have mixed the dark charm of Bad Santa with the subtle workforce ridiculousness humor of Office Space to become something very, very special. But neither style of humor was dwelled upon deep enough. The first half had its laughs, but was far too convoluted and was salvaged mainly because of the hilarity of Cameron Diaz. The movie definitely picks up later, but by then its too late, the potential was wasted. Either way, you will certainly laugh, you will remain entertained, but will also be bothered by what it could have been.

There is a certain energy in that movie. Especially at the beginning when Cameron Diaz seems invincible she has the time of her life (almost literally). There is a great sequence where she kinda falls down though which sets of the rest of the movie. Unfortunately even though it does make sense for her character, it does loose quite a bit of its pace from that point on.

Justin Timberlake is good in playing kind of against character and does not care about what people may think. Jason Segel is almost underused in this one and even Cameron Diaz did not really have that many great moments overall. And for a movie that tries to stay raunchy, it does even fail at combining that with the funny elements. While deliciously evil at times (and good), it also misses the point half of the time. Not really bad, but not that good either (I only watched the cinema release and not the extended cut)

Bad Teacher is funny in ways it shouldn't be. Cameron Diaz owns the role of Elizabeth as the foul-mouthed, pot smoking, trashy blonde teacher with a twisted outlook on life. Obscenities and bizarre sexual innuendo roll off her tongue perfectly. Justin Timberlake is hilarious and awkward as Scott. His character is complex and....well he's just awkward....there's no other way to describe it. Lucy Punch is the perfect counterpart to both Diaz and Timberlake's characters as Amy Squirrel. Her over-the-top performance is one you will remember. Jason Segel steals every scene he's in as Russell the equally foul mouthed and dirty gym teacher. Phyllis Smith is an adorable and strange addition to the movie as the confused Lynn Davis, bringing her own brand of corkiness to the plot. All in all, the casting of Bad Teacher is flawless and is really where the movie shines. The punchlines are delivered with punch and the characters are decently developed and complex in their own ways.

There are some setbacks to Bad Teacher which stop it from being a great comedy. The plot devices used to move the story along are unconvincing and overplayed. Character transformations are equally unconvincing, uninspired, and rushed. Some scenes feel forced for the sake of cheap laughs or shock value. None of it though is shocking enough for this to be an effective method of comedy. Sometimes the characters feel a bit too weird even for the universe of strange the movie sets early on. Jason Segel's Russell is the most interesting character in the movie and yet for some reason is greatly underused. He pops up in pointless scenes simply to interject a laugh and then disappears for long stretches of time.

Bad Teacher is a funny movie. The critics have not been so generous with their reviews, but who listens to them anymore anyways? If you are into dark comedies or a raunchy brand of humor, you will find yourself laughing with this one. While the plot devices are forced and some of the humor could have been better with a more subtle approach, overall this is a decent flick to chill out on the couch and laugh with. 7/10

You'd think this sort of humour would be right up my street, and you'd be absolutely correct. The sneering at the well-intentioned, the relentless mocking of the disadvantaged, and the courage to show us sometimes nice guys (or gals) DO finish last is like ambrosia to my ears.

However, I can't help but compare and contrast to a similar film by the name of Bad Santa, and not just because of the name. Both movies have alcoholic, drug-addled losers in the main role who are only in their current job for personal satisfaction. They steal, cheat and manipulate every good soul around them to achieve their goal, before finding some sort of minor personal redemption by the end.

But unlike the Xmas film, Bad Teacher operates to so many extremes of what it mocks it all becomes a wee bit improbable. No-one for instance, could be as sickly-sweet as Lucy Punch's character in real life... you can tell this is a comic creation all the way, and she plays it too broadly. Same with Justin Timberlake.... they make him so obnoxiously nice in his part, he is never that funny, just plain irritating. And he ditches that persona entirely for a startlingly bad dry-humping scene late on, the less said about the better.

Thank Heaven for Cameron Diaz though... She might be damaging children's delicate mental health with her corruptible influence, but at least she's a fleshed out person. All the humorous moments flow through her and her utter disdain for the goody two shoes surrounding her. A school like this, with it's right-on attitude and it's stultifying political correctness would probably be more of a nightmare to attend than a little place I know called Potterspury Lodge.

It's just a shame then, that unlike the slightly superior Bad Santa, sometimes it just gets so OTT that it crosses the line between satire and silliness. It's still generally a chucklesome affair, but I just feel like it could have been better. Ah, well... 6/10