Bad Teacher

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

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.

I thoroughly enjoyed this comedy which is not romantic but mercenary, vulgar and borders on sex work. I'm exactly the audience this kind of movie was designed for though it's admittedly offensive and low-brow, Bad Teacher is hilarious...like a 90 minute long SNL skit from the good 'ol days.

A gold-digging English teacher is dumped by her dorky, wealthy fiance and his mom and must return to her job as the worst middle school teacher that ever lived. Realistically, the character of Elizabeth is reminiscent of a substitute teacher who escorts or is a cam girl at night to make ends meet, but in this flick she's a full-time credentialed teacher so your suspension of disbelief will have to be pretty enormous to even accept the premise, but once you accept that it's an absurdist dark comedy and not a touching dramedy, it gets really good.

Perfect employee Amy is every obnoxious public school teacher that ever lived, and probably few college adjunct professors as well. It's implausible to love Elizabeth even if you laugh at her insane plotting to bed a math teacher who was probably a virgin until he was 25, played by a convincingly "hip youth pastor" bespectacled Justin Timberlake, but it becomes a lot easier because not hating Amy is utterly impossible.

Sick, offensive, ridiculous and predictable, I still give Bad Teacher a 6 because it's super entertaining and fun if you'e in that mood.

Just watched it. It's just a timepass movie, watch if you have enough time. We are at a lockdown here, so yeah completely free. It has many funny moments, and a story as well. I went in not expecting one. Turned out to be quite decent. The movie picks up brilliantly and the cast have done great job. The two top teachers are remarkable. Students could have been better had they learn from a great classic movie Kindergarten Cop! Average! Go for it if you have time!

This film is not so much about the story as it is about the comedy. The title itself eludes to the comedy, which can be said to be bad. However this 'bad comedy' is what makes it funny.

The story is not that interesting as it does get boring at times but it is not repetitive. The main focus is on Elizabeth and Diaz does a good job acting. You might not think her acting is good, but based on previous movies she has done I would say that this is not the type of character she is used to. Therefore I would say that she did a good job in this film as a badass foul mouth teacher. She delivered her lines convincingly and really fit into her character's shoes well. Punch does a good job of playing the uptight rule- abider, goody two shoes. I don't quite know why but it was either Timberlake himself or his character that really irked me. My friends and I were just fascinated at the possibility that Smith was probably the voice of Sadness in Inside Out (she is!).

There is not much to say of this film, except that it mainly plays off Elizabeth's appalling language (especially around children) to produce laughter. There is also quite a few scenes that I find a bit crude or stupid, but that just adds to the type of comedy this film promotes. Additionally, there are some pretty predictable plot lines and endings but all in all, it was not such a terrible experience.

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