Need No Education

BAD TEACHER (2011)

Bad Teacher is not a bad movie. It's just not a good one. It definitely isn't as good as Bad Santa (2003). It isn't even as good as School of Rock (2003). I wish Bad Teacher was a combination of the two or probably with just better humor and a better screenplay. It seems like the makers of this film were incredibly lazy when they wrote this film since there are absolutely no memeorable laughs throughout its run time. I did chuckle though, sometimes. This came mostly because of the talented cast members who managed to make this film watchable. Yes, it is watchable of course. But when the standards of American comedies are high, why settle for a standard comedy?

Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth Hesley who has to get a teaching job after her gold digging endeavors don't pan out. Obviously, she curses a lot and does "bad" things (mainstream movie-wise). Obviously she will become a good teacher by the end of the film. Obviously she will have a happy ending and learn her lesson. But how all that happens could have been funnier, could have been more interesting.

Cameron Diaz is not just a good-looker, she is also very good at comedy (There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, The Holiday) and she deserves better dialogue. Jason Segel also deserves better dialogue but he is still the best of the lot here. Phyllis Smith is another great comedian who started in television who could have also used a better character. The writing is just plain uninspired. We don't get to know any of the children she's teaching. Come to think of it, we don't get to know the teachers that well either. They are all caricatures. Except Lucy Punch's character, Amy Squirrel, who decides to bring Hesley down. Some of her scenes are mildly interesting and funny.

The one scene that is definitely not funny is the dry-humping scene. It is quite distasteful and unfunny. I'd like to stop whining now and admit that it was borderline guilty pleasure. Well, sometimes you do like to just sit back and watch something you don't have to take seriously. But being a guilty pleasure is a good thing, almost a guilty pleasure is not. There I start whining again. Albeit, I'd like to point out that the scene where Miss Hesley helps out one of her students. That's the movie I wanted to see. At least a sub-plot there. But what we get is a passable comedy.

Rating: