{2jtab: Movie Review}

Bad Teacher - Movie Review

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3 Stars

While it isn’t the most perfect of comedies to come along in a great while, Bad Teacher is perfect in its gut-busting politically incorrect antics as one teacher robs, cheats, and swindles her way into a new set of boobalicious implants.  Straightforward and satirically unassuming, the film – directed by Jake Kasdan (Orange County, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) – does for the teaching profession what 2003’s Bad Santa did for the Christmas season; it demystifies and demoralizes it for the laughing matter that it truly is.  Bad Teacher isn’t for everyone.  Its rock-and-roll attitude is very backhanded toward the material.  It’s unapologetically crude and distasteful and, while it doesn’t quite go far enough, makes every attempt to not be the feel good film of the year.

Written by "The Office" scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, Bad Teacher is just about as uncomplicated as comedies get.  Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) in no way shape or form belongs at the front of a classroom teaching 7th grade English.  She’s rude, antisocial, and morally bankrupt.  She smokes weed in the school’s parking lot, drinks most men under the table, and only shows “teaching” movies during her class.  The movie opens with her departure from teaching at the end of the school year as her wealthy fiancée has every intention of taking care of every desire.

Or so she thinks.

Dumped and damn-near destitute, Elizabeth has no choice but to return to her abandoned teaching post which brings on all sorts of hilarious animosity toward her students (she never bothers to remember their names) and her co-workers (she goes out of her way to avoid them).  Even the hilarious advances from the gym teacher Mr. Gettis (Jason Segel) get swatted away by her snarky behavior.

Lynn Davies (the scene-stealing Phyllis Smith) is the closest she has to what can be referred to as a “friend” at the school and even that is fraught with Elizabeth’s selfish antics.  Believing that she can land a rich man and never have to work again with a pair of bigger breasts, Elizabeth sets her eyes on the new and wealthy substitute, Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) and wildly competes with Miss Squirrell (Lucy Punch) for his attention.

Like a sharp knife, Bad Teacher cuts deeply into the teaching profession and highlights a lot of the unfortunate events that plague the profession.  Yet, even at its most extreme, Bad Teacher doesn’t go far enough in its portrayal of a teacher at her extremes.  Raunchy and crude (but never demented), the foul-mouthed material propelling the movie forward stays true in that you never feel much for Elizabeth and her mission to get a brand new rack.  The only negative is that the film should have been a lot darker than it actually is.

Perhaps Bad Teacher suffers the most in that it’s a tad more episodic in nature than serving up its laughs as a whole and complete narrative that satisfies at the most demented of levels (see Observe and Report).  Diaz is sincere in being insincere and turns out a commanding performance that works more often than it doesn’t, yet somehow she remains grounded in the sunshiny aspects of the storyline.  It isn’t the cheeriest of motion pictures but Bad Teacher isn’t a Stand and Deliver type of tear-jerker either.  There is no moral transformation that occurs within Elizabeth…only the desire to change the physical outside.

With (thankfully) no moral lessons imparted to its audience, Bad Teacher earns a passing grade due to its willingness to condemn its protagonist and entertain its audience.

{2jtab: Film Details}

Bad Teacher - Movie ReviewMPAA Rating: Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use.
Director: Jake Kasdan
Writer
: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake; Lucy Punch; Jason Segel; John Michael Higgins
Genre: Comedy
Memorable Movie Quote:
"I can't think of anyone being less suited for a teacher"
Tagline:
She doesn't give an "F."
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Official Site:
www.areyouabadteacher.com
Release Date: June 24, 2011
Blu-ray Release Date:
October 18, 2011

Plot Synopsis: Comedy centers around a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague -- a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher.

{2jtab: Blu-ray/DVD Review}

Bad teacher - Blu-ray Review

Component Grades
Movie

Blu-ray Disc
3 stars

4 stars



Blu-ray Experience
3.5 Stars

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - October 18, 2011
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); DVD copy; BD-Live; movieIQ
Playback: Region Free

This 1080p transfer is as ripe as the apple on Diaz’s desk on the box art that houses the blu-ray.  Sharp in contrast and rich in color, Bad Teacher is far from a bad transfer.  Fine detail surfaces throughout the feature; facial hair, clothing detail, and crisp daylight hours make this release a beautiful release.  Interior colors and stains are evident in bright classrooms, dingy bathrooms, and hotel rooms.  While warmth is purist, blues and grays shine through, too.  Sony has done a fine job with this transfer as even the sound – presented in a dynamic DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack - is striking.  The sound and color brings together a dynamite release from Sony.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

The comedy is presented with an extended and unrated version (an additional five minutes of raunch is included) and is preserved with the theatrical release, too.  There is also a DVD copy of the film included.  The supplementals aren’t very sharp and focus more on the lighter side of things even though they try to explain what makes a good teacher with one featurette.  There is a fun interactive feature that tells more about the characters in the film that can be accessed through the Jams Yearbook -- Hidden Moments tab.

With lots of gags and outtakes and deleted scenes, one can see a bigger and funnier what-if picture evolving.  There are lots of funny moments that shouldn’t have been left out and storylines that should have been explored.  It’s an interesting collection of supplementals, but the best is the discussion of Diaz’s sexy car wash scene.

  • Gag Reel (5 min
  • Outtakes (4 min)
  • Six Deleted Scenes (6 min)
  • Way Behind the Scenes with Jason and Justin (6 min)
  • Raising More than Funds (3 min)
  • A Very Odd Blacksmith Story (2 min)
  • Swimming with the Dolphins (3 min)
  • Good Teacher (4 min)

{2jtab: Trailer}

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