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| 'Redemption for Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is hinted at fairly early doors in her unwillingness to completely victimise Lynn (Phyllis Smith), whilst some of her supposed lack of tact (writing 'what does this FUCKING mean?' on a student's work) is portrayed successfully by Kasdan as merely unbridled honesty.' |
Foul-mouthed, bad taste comedy is a guilty pleasure of many but for some reason there seems to be inconsistency in the way in which it is judged. Bad Teacher, typically foul-mouthed and reliant on profanity and grotesque situations for its laughs, seems to have been put down for the same reasons that The Hangover was held up. Yes, this is bawdy and broad comedy in the most un-filtered sense but, like Todd Phillips' film, this Jake Kasdan offering is also genuinely funny, well-plotted and not without heart.
Not that anything we see isn't eminently predictable. Redemption for Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is hinted at fairly early doors in her unwillingness to completely victimise Lynn (Phyllis Smith), whilst some of her supposed lack of tact (writing 'what does this FUCKING mean?' on a student's work) is portrayed successfully by Kasdan as merely unbridled honesty. The plot arc then is well established from the start, with Jason Segel's wonderful Russell Gettis wheeled in to prod it along with some positive re-enforcement of character when it needs to be.
The tick boxes for School Comedy stuff are all here too; the sympathetic/slightly odd headmaster Wally Snur (John Michael Higgins) doesn't quite hit the heights of Mean Girls' Mr. Duvall, but the character type is there enough to see it, ditto the class geek, superficial girl and emotionally afflicted loner, respectively.
So, whilst Bad Teacher can't count on originality, it does come into its own in a smart script and enough clever turns of character to more than tide it over. Gettis' deconstruction of object-of-her-desire Scott (Justin Timberlake), in a single conversation involving sharks, would go completely over most bawdy comedy's heads and Halsey's schemes - from relying on her roommate for 'intimidation' to 'charming' an examiner for a class paper - are thought through cleverly enough to integrated conclusions.
The remaining doubts linger around the main character's thinly considered motivation (a boob job? Really? Why couldn't have she wanted a large house in Monaco, or something else material, yet less open to accusations of sexism?) and Miss Halsey's adversary, Miss Squirrel (Lucy Punch), who goes from deliberately annoying to obnoxiously infuriating screen presence on a by-scene basis. The laugh count though survives those threats as the breezy ninety-minute runtime sails by on the back of gruesome jokes at Timberlake's expense and a final few scenes of pure comedy joy.
Bad Teacher was showing on Sky Anytime.
Good review. This film could have been way, way funnier but instead, was just funny in certain parts. Actually, the best part of this whole flick was Jason Segel as he kicks everybody's asses when it comes to comedic timing.
ReplyDeleteI perhaps thought it was a bit funnier than you Dan by the sound of that but yes, Segel's timing in a well-written small-ish role is really good. Scene steals in every scene.
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