Film Review: Bad Teacher

Bad Teacher. Rated M (sexual references, sex scene, drug use and coarse language). 92 minutes. Directed by Jacob Kasdan. Screenplay by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg.

There are, quite simply, some films that should never have worked. We’ve all seen one or two. The signs might have been pointing in all the wrong directions, and while the script certainly had its moments, it was never really going to hold itself together long enough to be anything other than a pleasant and occasionally funny enough distraction from a work-a-day world.

But as soon as we are introduced to Cameron Diaz’s (There’s Something About Mary, Gangs of New York, Charlie's Angels) narcissistic gold-digging ‘bad’ teacher Elizabeth Halsey, we suspect we might be about to have a really good time in her company. And we absolutely do.

Courtesy of Stupnitsky and Eisenberg’s sharply-observed and clutter-free screenplay and Kasdan’s ‘give it to me baby’ approach to direction, Miss Halsey is someone most of us will instinctively (and immediately) relate to. Perfunctorily dumped by her obscenely rich, opera-loving boyfriend in the presence of his controlling mother (who obviously despises her), our anti-heroine suddenly finds herself humiliated and back in the classroom where she obviously doesn’t belong. Or does she?

Ms Diaz is wonderful in the leading role, and Bad Teacher really only works as well as it does because of her absolute and unconditional commitment to the role. She does, however, receive sterling support from Justin Timberlake (The Social Network) as the uptight new teacher and object of her attention Scott, while Lucy Punch has a field day with her role as the picture-perfect ‘good’ teacher Amy Squirrel. Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) is equally good as gym teacher Russell Gettis – whose role is to help keep the whole thing honest and, ultimately, totally charming.

While it certainly won’t thrill everyone, Bad Teacher wins points for not straying from the course it sets for itself – which is to be an entertaining, light-hearted romp through the perils and misfortunes of Ms Diaz’s delightful misfit and her search for the way in which she can make a difference in the world.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.