| Bad Teacher |
| Written by Nick West | |||
| Wednesday, 29 June 2011 02:15 | |||
 It's a wonderful place for us lovers of raunch when thanks to the success of hard-R comedies we get a whole bunch more (I'm looking at you Hangover). However, I don't like something dirty just for the sake of dirtiness. For me it comes down to storyand characters. Or if it makes me laugh. I usually can judge how well a movie sucked me in by looking at my notebook afterwards. If I have a whole page of remarks, the movie probably bored me. If there's three lines scribbled at the top, I had a good time. Bad Teacher left me with three notes at the top. That's not to say it was an amazing movie, or even genius in any way. It made me laugh. And as I've said before, if a comedy makes you laugh it did its job. Directed by Jake Kasdan (who gets immediate points from mygeek-dom for his screenwriting pops Lawrence—look him up) Bad Teacher is, as said, raunchy and funny. The writers both come from NBC's The Office and here they let their freak-flag fly. It must feel good to be off the hook from television standards. Bad Teacher is at times shocking in it's raw sexual talk, but never does it seem to be exploitative. Or, maybe it is exploitative, but we forgive it for being self-aware? Thus we get raunch comedy that is tongue-in-cheek. I like that. Of course Cameron Diaz is the star. Her comedic timing is as sharp as ever. As far as her being an object of lust—I've never seen it. I won't hold it against her though. She was totally believable as a money-grubbing and vapid-selfish woman. And she made me laugh. The big surprise here is Justin Timberlake. And by "surprise," I mean he's completely underdeveloped, underused or just plain not bringing his A-game. I'm a huge fan. Perhaps I was just thrown off, because for the first time he's playing a character we're supposed to (sort of) dislike. He had his moments but they were brief. Without a doubt my favorite scenes were those that involved Phyllis Smith (or "Phyllis" from The Office). Her timing is amazing and truly laugh-out-loud. If I had my druthers, I'd write a starring role just for her. So Bad Teacher is about a very unlikable character in some ways. At the same time though, Diaz acts associeties id. She is our bad-girl. She does and says the things of our base and impulse desires. She is a lying bitch but full of subtext. And she's funny. I like that. So, there is conflict and formulaic plot-twists. It was easy to predict many moments and outcomes. Did it matter overall? Perhaps if you're looking for something deeper. How do you make an unlikable character likable? Add an even more annoying character. This is where Lucy Punch comes in as the rival teacher. She is creepy and over-the-top hilarious. I was a little put off at first but she performed admirably. Her scenes with John Michael Higgins, as the school principal, were pure comedic genius. Bad Teacher didn't stick with me. It's a completely forgettable movie. However, I'll probably watch it again—and laugh. I like that. http://www.areyouabadteacher.com/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1284575/ For more articles like Bad Teacher, please visit the Film Reviews Section of TimesSquare.com
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