Bad Teacher (2011)

Cameron Diaz plays a Bad Teacher, but I wish she’d been one of mine. I probably wouldn’t have learned a thing in her class, but at least I could have caught up on movies and sleep, when not staring at the hot, hungover babe slouched behind the desk up front.

Her name is Elizabeth Halsey, but at the beginning of the movie she’s about to change it. Liz has coasted through a single year of teaching at John Adams Middle School (JAMS as the teachers annoyingly call it, with photos of “jammin’” faculty members–all but the conspicuously absent Liz–posted in the hallway), but she’s leaving, giving up her minimal four-class workload to marry a rich man like she’s always wanted. But her fiancé and his shrill mother are wise to her golddigging ways, and he dumps her.

Three months later, her curvy tail between her legs, Liz slinks back to the school, forced to endure terrible cookies from the doting mother of the class suck-up, unwelcome advances from a goofy but kind gym teacher (Jason Segel), and the insanely perky social studies teacher across the hall, Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch). Liz is so apathetic about the whole teaching thing that she just shows movies about other teachers to her class, like Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me, while she naps or sneaks liquor shots from her desk drawer. But when a new substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake) with a whiff of money and failed prior romance about him arrives on the scene, Liz sets her new goal upon the notion that the way to his heart is through a bigger pair of breasts.

It’s impossible not to compare Bad Teacher to another dark comedy about school life, Election; however, the screenplay by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (of the TV series The Office) lacks the story cohesion and character depth of Alexander Payne’s brilliant satire. And though it relies on a certain amount of raunchy humor, it’s tame compared to the similarly titled Bad Santa.

Bad Teacher features a flimsy premise, insufficient backstory, two-dimensional characters, and a few disjointed scenes and subplots that are ultimately unresolved. With a brisk 92-minute running time, it feels like too much was left on the cutting-room floor, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a longer “director’s cut” appears on DVD, just like director Jake Kasdan’s previous comedy, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

But despite Bad Teacher’s array of shortcomings, it’s still a funny movie with some endearing qualities. When an opening credit sequence is clever enough to make me smile, that’s a promising start. And it’s refreshing to see a school movie that doesn’t focus too much on the kids and their tween and teen angst, although we do get the obligatory “caring teacher reaches out to awkward student” scene. A few moments–including a peculiar sex scene with Justin Timberlake–trigger the “Ewww!” reaction along with laughter, but nothing on the level of, say, a Judd Apatow gross-out.

The language definitely keeps the film in R-rated territory, and it may be juvenile to laugh at things like Liz scrawling the F-word instead of an F while grading a student’s homework, but then everything about middle school or junior high is juvenile by default. Besides, the dirtiest words I hear most frequently from teachers are “union” and “strike,” neither of which appear in this film. So despite occasional glimpses of familiarity with real teacher situations–such as the dreaded lunchroom duty–it’s best not to analyze it from a realistic perspective. Too much dissection makes a comedy like this fall apart.

It’s more fun to sit back and watch the talented cast having a good time despite the flaws in story and character development. John Michael Higgins (Best in Show) is funny in everything he does, even here as the weirdly dolphin-obsessed principal. Phyllis Smith (The Office) is perfectly cast as a matronly, wishy-washy faculty member, but not enough is done with her character even when she’s given the opportunity to cut loose a little in a pot-smoking scene with Liz and the gym teacher. As for the latter, Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) is a likable guy on-screen, and I wish his role had more screen time. There’s also a hilarious appearance by Reno 911! co-star/co-creator Thomas Lennon as an educational testing official.

I was unfamiliar with Lucy Punch prior to this film, but despite having the most cartoony role in the film (with a
name like Amy Squirrel, how could it not be?) she nearly dominates this film, establishing herself as a comic actress to be reckoned with. And although he’s not as strong of a screen presence as he was in The Social Network, I continue to be impressed by Justin Timberlake’s talents as both a serious and comedic actor. I appreciate how he pushes against the teen heartthrob envelope with image-challenging acting choices.

Most of all, it’s great to watch Cameron Diaz playing a manipulative, self-centered school floozy with such gleeful abandon. She dives into the role with her whole body, looking like death warmed over when she staggers into the classroom each morning, or strutting her bare midriff and Daisy Dukes at a school car wash to steal money for her impending boob job. Her body language during an uncomfortable Christmas dinner with a student’s family generates as much laughter as her dialogue. Diaz is a fine comedic actress, and the sense of sly, winking fun she brings to the title role in Bad Teacher goes a long way towards overlooking the film’s weaknesses. I wouldn’t give the movie a gold star, but rather, “Good effort, needs improvement. Ms. Halsey, see me after class.”