THE AISLE SEAT - by Mike McGranaghan
"BAD TEACHER"
Bad Teacher is an example of a movie that works and doesn't work at the same time. Is that confusing? Here's what I mean: this comedy has some serious flaws, most notably that it never fulfills the potential of its premise. At the same time, it has a number of qualities that I rather enjoyed. I laughed and had fun, but in the back of my head, I kept thinking, "This should have been a home run." Weird, huh? A picture like this only comes along once in a great while.
Cameron Diaz stars as Elizabeth Halsey, a gold-digging 7th grade teacher who has been unceremoniously dumped by her rich fiancée. Her anger over this catastrophe causes her to stop caring about her job. She shows her students movies while she sleeps at her desk, verbally abuses them, and smokes weed in her car out in the parking lot. Desperately wanting to be "kept" so that she can stop working, Elizabeth sees an opportunity when new substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) arrives at the school. He comes from a wealthy family and seems suitably naïve. Elizabeth's big plan is to get breast enlargement surgery and woo the new guy. The problem is that she doesn't have enough money to pay for implants. Her entire school year is spent trying to find ways to earn cash, including hijacking a student car washing fundraiser and taking bribes from parents. Two people are on to her little scam. One is a goody-goody fellow teacher, Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), who also has her sights on Scott, and the other is the school gym teacher, Russell Gettis (Jason Segel), who secretly shares Elizabeth's "screw the system" attitude.
Bad Teacher promises to be a down-and-dirty, politically incorrect comedy. And, to be fair, it does contain a bunch of moments in that vein. Not enough of them, though. The screenplay, by "The Office" scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, tends to pull back right when it should be going for the jugular. I kept waiting for an unrepentantly mean edge to reveal itself, and one never quite did. The very concept of a teacher who has stopped caring about the kids, education, and her own ethics is pretty shocking. (And let's face it - we all had at least one teacher in our formative years who'd grown apathetic.) With some more courage, the film could really have been deliciously, hilariously dark. Instead, it's a slap as opposed to a gut punch. A lack of story structure emphasizes that problem. The plot is more episodic than streamlined, bouncing from one thing to another, sometimes almost randomly.
Individual moments, however, work exceedingly well. I got two huge laughs out of Bad Teacher - one from a scene set in a bathroom, and the other from a sexual encounter between Elizabeth and Scott - and many more chuckles. While they may not congeal into something fully formed, the bits that work are certainly entertaining. It helps that all the roles are so beautifully cast. Every actor works tirelessly to find the humor in the material. Diaz clearly relishes the chance to play nasty, Timberlake gleefully jumps right into full dork mode, and Segel brings a nice sense of cynicism to his gym teacher. Lucy Punch (Dinner For Schmucks) is solid too, playing the prissy foil to Diaz's pissy schemer. John Michael Higgins, Thomas Lennon, and Phyllis Smith (also from "The Office") do strong character work in supporting parts.
I enjoyed Bad Teacher on Blu-Ray as much as I did theatrically. In fact, I think it might even play a little better at home. The flaws didn't seem quite as bothersome to me on second viewing, and the strengths seemed stronger. Even though the picture is far from perfect, I was never less than amused. The terrific cast and some individual bits of comedy were enough to keep me invested and to put a smile on my face for a little while.
(
out of four)
Blu-Ray Features:
Bad Teacher has two separate cuts on the Blu-Ray. One is the theatrical cut, and the other is an extended cut that runs five minutes longer. There are one or two short, added scenes, including a bit with Cameron Diaz picking up a guy in a bar. A few other scenes run a little longer and have a slightly higher raunch factor, dialogue-wise.
There are about 45 minutes of supplementary features on the disc, starting with “JAMS Yearbook Hidden Moments,” an interactive yearbook with information about the movie's characters. “Way Behind the Scenes with Jason and Justin” finds stars Jason Segel and Justin Timberlake doing a fake interview wherein they pretend to not like each other. (This sort of thing has become an annoying DVD cliché.) Much better are the deleted scenes and outtakes which, while not vital, provide a few additional chuckles. Here, you'll find Diaz doling out more romantic advice to a troubled teen, among other things. There's also a 5-minute feature called “Good Teacher” in which the stars reminisce about their own past educators.
A handful of short specialty segments focus on specific scenes from the film, such as the field trip to the blacksmith's shop and the school principal's fascination with dolphins. The one certain to get the most attention is “Raising More Than Funds,” which is dedicated to the film's signature car wash scene and, specifically, Diaz's hotness in it.
To celebrate the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Bad Teacher, some cool promotions are also going on:
Win a Sony tablet in the Bad Teacher “School Days” Sweepstakes - Enter here.
Win a Sony Cybershot - Take a picture with the Goldrun app and add quotes from the movie. Then post your picture on Twitter with the tag #BTGold. Details here.
Bad Teacher is rated R for sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use. The running time is 1 hour and 32 minutes.