INTRODUCTION
Growing up we all had that one teacher, that teacher that really could care less if his or her class actually learned anything. That teacher who looked out to lunch either because they were intoxicated or they were thinking of what they were going to do when school ended. In a nutshell that is the premise for Bad Teacher. Bad Teacher is directed by Jake Kasdan whose other directorial credits include: Orange County, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Can a film about a terrible teacher really sustain itself for its entirety?
PLOT
Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) has finished her teaching career; she is engaged to a rich man that is set to take care of her. However, on the last day of school when she returns home her fiancée has broken off the engagement due to her over the top spending habits. Elizabeth is than forced to return to teaching for she now is desperate for money and she wants to earn enough money to get plastic surgery.
It becomes clear to the audience that Elizabeth just does not care, for she does not teach at all during class. This is until an attractive substitute walks into the school one day; his name is Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake). However, another teacher named Amy Squirrell (Lucy Punch) is making eyes at Scott as well. Elisabeth now has two motivations for teaching, the first being of course to earn money with the second being to win Scott’s affection.
STRENGTHS
The biggest strength overall for Bad Teacher is its casting, this role fits Diaz very well and she seems to be having a really good time playing her character. Timberlake at points goes a little too far playing the nerd role; however, he is still funny doing it. The supporting characters are also are funny, Jason Segel plays a hysterical gym teacher, Phyllis Smith (The Office) plays her role as the timid teacher well without going too far with it. Even Punch plays the rival teacher in a way that does not irritate the audience. The audience hates the character but she never comes across as annoying. Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) has a small role but the few times he is on screen he is funny as well.
Bad Teacher also has some funny references within it, about other high school movies. The first is a funny and clever scene taken from Dangerous Minds and the second is a scene from the 1980’s classic Sixteen Candles. The film is a black comedy for the humour in it is not for everyone. Moreover, what made it work for me is although the humour is mean spirited at points it never reaches that point where it becomes offensive. This is difficult for films to do because it is easy to fall into the trap of just letting everything happen without pulling it back. Kasdan manages to keep his direction focused so that does not happen. Scenes are cut at the right moments so the audience does not grow tired of the mean spirited humour.
WEAKNESSES
Bad Teacher does have some minor issues. The first being it has this desire to talk down to the profession of teaching one too many times. The first time it was funny but after that it is no longer funny it becomes insulting in some ways. This is a minor problem because Bad Teacher was able to make me laugh enough to overlook it. The second is the film does not really have a protagonist; all the characters are naive, mean, or just really strange. The characters serve their purpose, however, at some points in the film I was scratching my head wondering just how odd these characters really are.
CONCLUSION/FINAL RATING
Bad Teacher is not for everyone, some may be turned off of it due to it being mean spirited or just how weird it is at times. That being said though, every time the movie did something wrong it was able to win me back with a funny joke or a funny scene. I laughed out loud throughout and this movie did surprise me quite a bit.