The English Teacher

This is one of those indie movies that is much better than many big budget feature film comedies.

The story combines original comedy, a touching partly dramatic climax and a feel good plot that comes together perfectly. The comments on screen are an original touch. No wonder such a top notch cast appears in it.

The performances are stellar. Julianne Moore gives a wonderfully varied and moving performance as a spinster English Teacher in high school who mounts the play of an ex student played by Michael Angarano. She can do comedy just as well as she does drama and biopics.

The supporting cast includes Broadway veterans Jessica Hecht and Norbert Leo Butz as school principals, Nathan Lane as the diva of a drama teacher, the lovely Lily Collins as a high school student and aspiring actress and finally Greg Kinnear as the young playwright's father.

This is one of the best indie comedies in years and deserves much more critical acclaim and financial success than it received. Look forward to seeing more from the screen writing duo who penned the story.

I was captivated by this movie and laughed from beginning to end.

I do not get the people who did not like this movie. They say nasty things and say nothing about the movie. Did any of them even watch the movie? They all deserve an "F". Yes, everybody who hates this movie gets an "F" in good taste and an "F" in life. Now, go back to High School and learn what you didn't learn when you first attended.

For the rest of us, especially those of us in the teaching profession, this is a gem. Not since Neil Simon retired have we had such sharply drawn characters and such sweet and gentle self mocking humor. It is both English teaching and High School theater that gets gently ridiculed. Yet, underneath the humor there is a real understanding of the importance of both subjects in our curriculum.

Any humanist, Jane Austin fan, Julianne Moore fan or theater lover will appreciate this movie. Go for it.

"The English Teacher" is actually a thought-provoking movie. It's somewhat bittersweet in its depiction of an array of likable, believable characters who encounter - and must deal with - a gap between personal ideal and reality. Take the drama teacher: he tells us that he once had ambitions, while now he's the quirky local school drama coach. Everyone, including the teacher herself, has some unfulfilled ambition bubbling beneath the public surface.

I'll admit to having perhaps a slightly different perspective than many other viewers. I live in the real-life Kingston, Pa. and saw the movie with an audience that "got" all the local references, for better or worse, and probably laughed harder than other audiences would. But I think any audience, anywhere, could enjoy - and even perhaps identify with - the characters who populate this movie. If "action" seems minimal, maybe that's because what's "happening" is the everyday lives that we eventually settle into.

Lifelong reader Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is a 45 year old high school English teacher in Kingston, Pennsylvania. She's a spinster and has given up on men. Former student Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano) has returned home as a failed writer in New York. She is taken with his play and drama teacher Carl Kapinas (Nathan Lane) is excited to do it. She judges Jason's dad Dr. Tom Sherwood (Greg Kinnear) to be unsupportive. Student Halle Anderson (Lily Collins) is the lead actress.

It's marginally funny. A flustered Julianne is somewhat funny. I'm not sure about Angarano although he has that slacker vibe which works in the role. I don't think I like his character. As for the plot, I doubt that Linda can be fired for that. He's in his twenties. It's not even a scandal. Julianne is hot. There's no reason not to. I just hope that Halle is not underage. The morality is all twisted although Halle's words do come back into play. Linda is forced to eat too much crow.

This is a pleasant, low budget, entertaining film. The story is built around a high school production of a play written by a former student of the school. But there are complications galore. It's funny. It's clever. It's original. There are a lot of laughs but also some serious moments, a bit of rumpy-pumpy and a few profanities, tied to-gether with a humorous, British accented voice over commentary and occasional, bluntly worded on screen titles. It's a happy combination of good writing, interesting characters, original ideas and snappy production, all done on a low budget.