It’s not often a movie is brave enough to put the word “bad” in its title. Rarer still is the one that has an obnoxious advertising campaign, a script that’s short on laughs, and the most unlikable lead character I’ve seen in a movie this year…yet still manages to get me to go against my better judgment and see it anyway. Don’t worry though, I snuck into it after Transformers (between Cameron Diaz and Rosie Huntington this must be the day for soulless blue eyed blondes with caved in cheeks) so technically I didn’t pay to see it.
What Works: Jason Segel’s pretty good in the few scenes he’s in. And uhhhhh…well…[crickets].
What Doesn’t Work: Cameron Diaz’s character…who is the lead character…who is also the title character…and is in almost every scene. You expect a movie called “Bad Teacher” to be about a shitty teacher (like Eastbound and Down’s hilariously washed up gym teacher) or (better yet) one that has sex with her male students but you don’t expect to actively root for her murder. She’s not bad in a funny or outrageous way like Bad Santa…she just sucks as a human being (a gold digger, a vapid idiot, a cheater, a thief, a relationship wrecker, a drunk, a liar, an all around reality show reject…all around kids and while sabotaging good hearted characters that actually care about kids). What’s worse is that the movie never gives her a comeuppance and actually wants her to get away with not only her bullshit but with framing the vastly better teacher that’s only her nemesis because she’s a good teacher (played by Lucy Punch as someone I was surprised I liked).
Also, the movie is released into a political climate it might not have intended when they were filming it. Back then it might have been funny to laugh at how “awful” public school teachers are but now it just feels like another attack in a year that has seen too many of them already. This movie takes place on a different planet than public school and is maybe what Glenn Beck thinks happens at a public school. Imagine if they had a movie called “Bad Soldier” and it was about how awful this one soldier stationed in Baghdad was…they’re be rioting in the streets instead of releasing it in the prime summer months.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Never made a movie that’s sole joke is how awful a public school teacher can be…just never made a movie period where the lead character has no redeeming qualities but somehow triumphs at the end…at least not one that’s supposed to be a broad Summer comedy. And the downfall of the caring teachers at the end wasn’t necessary. Also, it could have used more Jason Segel, more jokes, and more of a deranged quality if they were really going to push it that far. The problem is that the movie just kind of lies there like a dead fish, taking easy pot shots at everything and trying to pretend it cares about the real world. It needed to just go all out and be completely unhinged, probably ending with the Diaz character being killed in some kind of school shooting but then labeled a hero post-mortem just for dying.
It does have some chuckles but there are just way too many punch lines that fall flat on their faces and not enough of Jason Segel’s effortless hilarity to balance out everything else that’s trying too hard. ‘Bad Teacher’ had the potential for greatness but ended up being pretty forgettable. Good Review! Check out mine when you can please!