A funny movie, one that has you in a fit of giggles and snorts, is one of the easiest and more entertaining ways to escape the cold winter weather.
But a truly funny movie is getting harder to find as I discovered this evening.
My first clue should have been the fact that Cameron Diaz was the lead, and playing a high school teacher. I understand Cameron's need to branch out and play a range of characters to ensure a long and fruitful career. And I will also admit that I loved her in both The Holiday, In Her Shoes, and she was even pretty good in My Sisters Keeper. But this latest project, Bad Teacher, is nothing to be proud of.
Elizabeth Halsey' is not just any teacher either; she is the worst teacher - ever. Think: the complete opposite to Michelle Pfeiffer's character in Dangerous Minds (and yes they did ironically play the Gansta's Paradise melody in Bad Teacher). 'Elizabeth' is an angry and self obsessed character who tells it how it is, not to be funny but because she is a rude b*#ch and just doesn't give a sh*# about anyone or anything else.
I guess that would usually provide the basis for many good comedies - the portrayal of funny or embarrassing realities or truths about life. So maybe they had the right idea or ingredients, but they just forgot to mix them properly and took them out of the oven too early.
I didn't think it was very funny, and the other characters were just as annoying. Including Justin Timberlake's character - a fellow (supposedly hot) teacher who enjoys dry humping (sounds more exciting than it is, trust me).
The most loveable character was the 'bigger' teacher who was very sweet in her naivety. And what about the students, you may ask? Well, who knows, 'Elizabeth' doesn't really know their names and either do we.
The overall message that I took from the story was that if you're a damaged, money hungry and yet good-looking teacher, you can lie, cheat and steal your way to the top. You can drink and do drugs at school and get away with it. Despite all of this, you can still wind up with the not-so-hot gym teacher, even if you thought he was a loser at the beginning of the movie.
I will give Bad Teacher a 2 out of 5. For the boys, however, there are a big pair of boobs on screen for about 30 seconds (not Cameron's), lots dirty sex jokes, and a bra trick too – so maybe that's the movies' target audience and not this 32 year old PR chick.
Lousy movie - waste of money - even amateurs do better stuff - they are definitely running out of ideas for good movies these days - WHAT ENTERTAINMENT????????
By anees0 - reader Tuesday, 26th of July @ 11:55 pm
cool! thanks for this review! I wasn't overly interested in watching this movie to begin with … and now, even on a bored ‘I want to stab myself in the eye just so I have something to do’ night, I still wont go and watch this movie!! LOL
I completely agree with this review. The only bright spots in this movie to me were the roles of Jason Segel, as Russel Gettis (the Gym teacher) and Phyllis Smith, as Lynn Davis (the large friend). Both of their performances in the movie were, to me, the only thing that kept this movie bearable to watch. In saying this, the movie was a real disappointment for me, and obviously many others also. To me, the worst thing about this film was the assumption that the audience would want to eventually feel happy and connected to Cameron Diaz's character when the movie concluded.
By Alex Lewandowski - senior reviewer Saturday, 30th of July @ 01:25 am
