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Bad Teacher (Jake Kasdan, 2011)
Bad Teacher is less
noteworthy for its weak plot (in which Ms. Halsey competes for both romance and
professional approval against a well-liked coworker played by Lucy Punch) than
for its generally malignant outlook on life and education. Rest assured, there
are no heartwarming inspirational conversations between students and teachers to
be found here. Indeed, the students barely register at all. Unfortunately, while
Bad Teacher starts out cocksure and
fearless, allowing its lead character to take no prisoners in her quest for
breast implants, it does lamentably eventually begin a slight process of
domestication, detoothing the satire somewhat. If the screenwriters let the
enterprise down by forcing a three act structure upon this material and at least
mildly reigning in Ms. Halsey’s bad behavior by the film’s end, at least we can
be thankful that they resist selling out completely. Ultimately, Bad Teacher
is easy to like precisely because it doesn’t try very hard to be liked.
While some of the supporting turns (Justin Timberlake’s and Jason Segal’s,
specifically) seem like missed opportunities, the bulk of the material here
works. While there is the hint of a better, more ruthless movie lurking here
(Gus Van Sant’s To Die For would be
an excellent role model) what Bad Teacher
delivers is still satisfyingly snarky. 64 Jeremy Heilman 06.29.11
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Cameron
Diaz gets another chance to show off her underappreciated comic talents in Jake
Kasdan’s rude new comedy Bad Teacher.
As its title implies, Bad Teacher is
centered on a middle school teacher who is anything but a role model to her
students. Foul-mouthed, self-centered and motivated by greed, Diaz’s Ms. Halsey
works as something of a corrective to decades of saintlike screen teachers. Diaz
seizes this opportunity to be bad, and her drink-swilling, dry-humping
anti-heroine offers her the sort of broadly defined, physical role that she
excels in. Diaz sacrifices any need to be sympathetic or retain dignity here,
and her performance is that much better for it. For all of the right reasons,
this film is a reminder that Diaz made her career breakthrough by rubbing semen
in her hair. Diaz’s sassy turn is clearly the best thing in
Bad Teacher, and she taps into the
politically incorrect vibe that runs throughout its acerbic screenplay. If the
film that surrounds her is something less than a classic, it certainly stands
near the top of this year’s mediocre crop of mainstream comedies.