Bad Teacher (2011)

If the folks behind Bad Teacher are good at one thing, it’s finding exactly the right actors to play each part. Most every actor in this film fits into their character like a particularly comfortable glove. As such, the world in which the characters live feels completely natural rather than the work of a screenwriter in a dark room. John Adams Middle School—the setting for most of the film’s action—is not your typical Hollywood school filled with uninteresting teachers and students pulled from the pages of fashion catalogues. This is a building which has stood for many years with teachers which have worked there quite a long time. There is no real overarching plot; just a handful of fun journeys over the course of a single school year. It may not quite be the go-for-the-jugular R-rated comedy some may have expected or hoped for, yet Bad Teacher succeeds for one simple reason: it features funny actors playing funny characters who do funny things.

Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey, a teacher who spends much of her time in class sleeping while playing a movie on the television. When her rich fiancée dumps her, she devotes all of her energy to finding a new, wealthy guy who will marry her and let her coast for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, the only interested party is the gym teacher Russell (Jason Segel), a guy who isn’t exactly raking in a ton of money. Luckily, the school has a new substitute in Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), who is the son of a wealthy watch manufacturer. Meanwhile, the teacher from across the hall (Lucy Punch) is trying to find any excuse to get Elizabeth fired. Other key players include the nervous pushover Lynn Davies (The Office’s Phyllis Smith), the principal Wally Shur (John Michael Higgins), and Elizabeth’s roommate Kirk (Eric Stonestreet).

Ever since breaking out in There’s Something About Mary, Cameron Diaz’s work has (occasionally) gotten a whole lot less interesting. Bad Teacher provides a timely reminder of just how great she can be when given an interesting and—God forbid—funny character. As great of a comedic ensemble as she has around her, this is without question a Cameron Diaz vehicle. Her objective in this film is not an enviable one: she must take an unlikable character and keep her in the good graces of the audience. That her character comes off more humorous than frustrating is no small accomplishment. The entire film is packed with these flawed-yet-compelling characters, and the result is a universe with not many people to root for but still a great deal to care about.

Bad Teacher was directed by Jake Kasdan, and this is undoubtedly the most commercial film he’s ever done. He had to give in to the will of the public at some point, as every project up until now—even the brilliant Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story—has ended in commercial failure. There are two kinds of R-rated comedies: those that sprinkle the dirtiness throughout and those that try to shock the audience into appalled laughter. Bad Teacher is undoubtedly the former, and while the safeness may disappoint some, the film is able to get its laughs the old-fashioned way: people actually speaking in a comedic manner. Yes, the comedy can occasionally skew broad, but Bad Teacher does enough heavy lifting to earn it.

The film is best when it moves briskly from scenario to scenario, and whenever it starts meandering it can become a little distracting. (Segel is funny as always, but his sarcastic, improvisational style can sometimes clash with the film’s more straight-faced aspects.) The final scenes can also fall flat; giving the audience forced—and obvious—emotional payoffs rather than the engaging-yet-anarchic comedy that came before. Yet when a movie like Bad Teacher spends the vast majority of its running time doing everything a good comedy should do, it’s hard to complain.

GRADE: B+