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| Who does not want a bad teacher who looks like Cameron? |
The Sunday Leader - By Sumaya Samarasinghe
I have to admit, I was at first dreading the idea of watching Bad Teacher not so much because Cameron Diaz who despite being stunningly sexy, beautiful and probably one of the few Hollywood actresses to not shoot botox up her face to hide her wrinkles, is getting a little old to play leads in raunchy comedies. No, I was just afraid that Bad Teacher would be an overdose of crude jokes and pimply teens thinking about how to bed their girlfriends.I was wrong, the film which is crude and nasty at times, is actually rather funny thanks to a fantastic cast starting with Diaz.The film begins with her character Elisabeth Halsey bidding farewell to her job at John Adams Middle School in Illinois. She is going to get married to her “rich meal ticket” as she calls him, a fiancé whose birthday she does not even remember and considers worthy only for the millions in his bank account. She clearly loathes her job, her colleagues and her students none of which she attempts to hide.The only issue is that when she goes back home, her future mother in law to be has managed to convince her son to break up with Elizabeth.She is forced to return to a school and a job she detests,even more this time around!
The thing is that Elisabeth is not a nice person. She swears at her students and shows them videos in class while she sleeps nursing a hangover or smokes marijuana in her car within the school premises; much to the horror of her dedicated colleague Amy Squirrel played by the brilliant Lucy Punch who was already a treat to watch in Woody Allen’s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger.
The rest of the staff includes Scott Delacorte,a teaching sub(Justin Timberlake, once again excellent and not afraid of ridiculing himself at times), Russel Gettis (Scott Segel from How I Met Your Mother) as the hunky gym teacher who keeps asking Elisabeth out only to be rejected, Ms. Pavicic (Jillian Armenante) a veteran spinster teacher whom Elisabeth takes under her wing and the dolphin crazy principal Wally Snur (John Michael Higgins).Though all of them are supporting cast members, the script has done a good job in giving the viewers a clear idea of each one’s character though it may be a little hard to compete with Lucy Punch who is both hilarious and a little pathetic at times as this super dedicated teacher who just does not seem to be able to beat Bad Cameron.When Elisabeth gets to know that Scott is the heir to a family fortune, she sets her goals on the teaching substitute and is appalled when he falls for Amy. This makes Elisabeth decide that she needs to get her breasts enlarged as she believes that her misfortunes with men are all caused by her lack of cleavage!Okay, so quite a bit more happens with some raunchy,funny moments which include Elisabeth at a school car wash in micro mini shorts or her sudden decision to make her students study which leaves them flabbergasted . She is an immoral, dishonest user who will not hesitate in incriminating others to reach her goal.I am so glad we were spared the story of Elisabeth’s possible sad and deprived childhood which could have been the cause of her behaviour; no such explanations are offered and it is better that way.Of course in true American style, there will be signs of redemption, not many but a few which will show to us that Elisabeth is not all that bad.The movie is just long enough, the filming unexciting but then again a story of this genre does not demand much creative filming work and of course the cast as a group makes Bad Teacher probably one of the nastiest and funiest adult comedies recently made.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a masterpiece, but on a rainy Saturday with a bowl of snacks to munch on, it will certainly provide you some laughs.
