Directed by Jake Kasdan. Starring: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, and Jason Segel. Bad Teacher (2011) Listen to us talk about this film on our podcast. IMDB says: “A comedy centered 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.”
Lindsay: Bad Teacher is like Bad Santa except not nearly as depressing and I actually thought it was pretty funny. Maybe it was just me, but I thought Cameron Diaz kind of nailed her role as a no good, scheming wreck of a teacher. The major problem this movie has is its pacing which doesn’t seem to find it’s footing til the third act. It never feels even, more like the film just pieces together all these ideas it wanted to fit in, without figuring into whether or not what it’s doing is appropriate So the pacing is a lot like Cameron Diaz character, Elizabeth Halsey. On the whole though, I laughed out loud quite a bit, more so than the rest of the theater seemed to. The fact that I can’t really elaborate much on the film is probably not a good thing overall, but I can’t deny the fact that I found it funny.
Jessica: Bad Teacher definitely isn’t a stand out comedy, but it did deliver some solid laughs for me throughout the movie. I completely agree with Lindsay of everything coming together in the third act, and could have been a much better film if the whole movie had that zeal. Jason Segel and Justin Timberlake offer really funny supporting parts while Diaz actually seemed to perfectly fit her part. Jason Segel definitely was the best character in the movie for me, always interjecting with funny one liners commenting on how ridiculous his colleagues are. A lot of plot gets left to the wayside in order to put in more funny bits and dialogue and most of the characters are completely unrealistic and weird but I kind of didn’t mind. There’s some genuinely hilarious moments and so it just worked for me.
Rob: Bad Teacher is one of those movies that I went into not expecting much. The main reason for this may be that I have a possibly unreasonable dislike for Cameron Diaz. Nevertheless, I do really like Jason Segel and Justin Timberlake has been good in the movies I’ve seen him in, so I thought there was potential. The movie certainly wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Basically, it took maybe an hour for me to really get into the movie. I don’t know if I was trying to fight off enjoying the film or what, but I don’t think the movie picked up until you saw more from Segel and Timberlake (whose character was really different than what I would have expected), who added their own personality into the mix. Phyllis Smith was also good in her handful of scenes.
The humor in the movie is generally pretty typical of what you would expect from watching the trailer. It’s along those lines for most of the movie, but there are some pretty funny jokes and gags scattered throughout. The film also does a good job of making Diaz’s rivals so annoying that, after a while, you don’t care that she is a terrible person, you just want her to get over on these characters. I felt bad for the teacher played by Lucy Punch for most of the film, but at a certain scene I didn’t care to see her win anymore because she became a sort of stereotype for the annoying person you want to see put in her place. Up until that part of the film the character could have easily been the main character in a slightly different movie.
Essentially, this movie was better than I was hoping for, but I wasn’t expecting anything great. I would definitely list this movie as one to wait to see on HBO or whatever channel it makes it to. I feel like there are just better people to cast in comedy roles than Cameron Diaz. But if you’re a fan of hers then you will like it more than me. She was definitely my least favorite part.
The humor in the movie is generally pretty typical of what you would expect from watching the trailer. It’s along those lines for most of the movie, but there are some pretty funny jokes and gags scattered throughout. The film also does a good job of making Diaz’s rivals so annoying that, after a while, you don’t care that she is a terrible person, you just want her to get over on these characters. I felt bad for the teacher played by Lucy Punch for most of the film, but at a certain scene I didn’t care to see her win anymore because she became a sort of stereotype for the annoying person you want to see put in her place. Up until that part of the film the character could have easily been the main character in a slightly different movie.
Essentially, this movie was better than I was hoping for, but I wasn’t expecting anything great. I would definitely list this movie as one to wait to see on HBO or whatever channel it makes it to. I feel like there are just better people to cast in comedy roles than Cameron Diaz. But if you’re a fan of hers then you will like it more than me. She was definitely my least favorite part.
FTS SCORE:
62%
61-89% Really enjoyable movie. It may not be perfect in all aspects but it was worth the watch.