Synopsis:
After being dumped by her rich fiance a foul-mouthed teacher must return to what she hates the most... teaching. When the opportunity arises to pick up a new man with a healthy family fortune, she is forced to fight for his love against an overly enthusiastic Miss Squirrel.
I think I’m just going to come out and say straight away
that Bad Teacher is a distinctly
average film. Unfortunately it’s been a week since I’ve watched it so this
review won’t be as in depth as I would have liked. It’s basically a filler
film. With a wealth of interesting films out there to watch you often why
bother making films like this? It’s not like it was trying to be too ambitious
and just didn’t turn out well, a much more commendable path than simply
churning out a very forgetful film that tries it’s hardest to be labelled ‘Edgy’.
I’m sorry Bad Teacher but I’m afraid
I’m using you as the ambassador for all pointless films. With that said maybe we
need these kind of films, because it makes all the important and decent films
look that much better. It’s also not like I didn’t enjoy it, it had it moments,
but there’s just such little ambition, just something I can only presume has been
made to pick up a quick buck.
My main issue is that the film thinks it’s cooler than it
is. Cameron Diaz plays her role well but you can be a bad teacher and not smoke
weed. Her main thing is being lazy and not really caring, desperately seeking a
husband who can provide everything for her. Why she has to be a raving drinker
and a marijuana enthusiast just seems stupid. It’s just overkill and the makers
are trying to play it off as a cool. Other films, Pineapple Express for example, get it right as they portray
people addicted to drugs as wasters, as they are in real life, but we’re
supposed to get behind this idiot who his still being portrayed as an
intelligent person. It’s backwards character portrayal.
There’s also no natural transition of her turning into a
good person either, just all of a sudden she decides to help a useless kid become
popular, yawn.
When looking at other actors Justin Timberlake was never
going to be the show stealer but to be fair everyone seems to play their role
well. However I couldn’t help but feel everyone who wasn’t Cameron Diaz or her
enemy, goody-goody-crazy-lady Amy Squirrel played flawlessly by Lucy punch, is
simply an afterthought. Diaz’s main aim is Timberlake (I’m calling them by
their real names because this was the only selling point of the film. Rightly
so, it has nothing else really going for it) but he’s rarely onscreen, not to
mention Diaz’s guilty pleasure the gym teacher (Jason Segal), who too, is
rarely on screen. The kids hardly play a role at all when their interaction
with the bad teacher would have made for a much more entertaining film. School of Rock does a much better job
for crying out loud. All you do to get Bad Teacher is take away the Rock, the
flare of Jack Black and interaction with other cast members then add in swear
words, drugs and drinking, plus a preteen chav “I’m so cool” attitude, and
there you go.
Overview:
Painfully average. That’s it... that’s all I’ve got to say
Rating:
★★
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