Bad Teacher [2011]

August 22, 2011

Behind the curious title Bad Teacher hides an expected mainstream comedy starring sexy Cameron Diaz. She is the eponymous bad teacher, trying to get by doing as little work as possible and engaging in sinful activities as much as possible. Of course, this is a somewhat puritanical summary of this movie, mostly because our society expects teachers to take this vow of chastity when it comes to life in general. Satan forbid a teacher likes to go out, drink a couple of beers after work, or smoke weed. That’s a big no-no.

So, you might even go so far as to say that Bad Teacher is a thought-provoking movie. However, I don’t think you’ll get very far with this type of disjointed storytelling and hit-and-miss jokes. This movie is a distraction with a twist. Just three years earlier we’ve had the pleasure of watching Role Models, a movie offering a similar story. What makes them different and watchable from other commercial projects is the R rating. It enables the filmmakers to be a bit cheeky while firmly staying within the confines of the genre.

Still, if they thought a few weed jokes and sex references are going to make Bad Teacher an “edgy and raunchy” comedy, they’re sorely mistaken. I mean, there’s exactly one scene featuring nudity although I’ll admit it’s pretty juicy. When it comes to the cast, Cameron was great while Timberlake redeemed himself with that dry-humping scene. In the rest of them, it seems he was more dancing than acting. I don’t want to dwell on those aspects too much because who cares, am I right? The reason why you watch movies like this is to relax and have some fun. And that makes taking them not too seriously an imperative.

Meet Elizabeth Halsey, a foul-mouthed, weed-smoking, beer-drinking hot blonde working at a local school. However, those days of hard work are about to end as she’s marrying a very rich man. Happy, content, and hopeful, Elizabeth quits but when she gets home, the situation changes drastically. So drastically in fact that she’ll be forced to go back to her old job that now comes with new challenges.

I think that Bad Teacher is a perfect movie for all the teachers out there. It’s a difficult job, working with dumb-ass kids. And sometimes your coworkers are not much better. Especially if you don’t want or simply can’t fit in this environment. And I’m sure you’re going to recognize some of the characters. And while all the attention was on Cameron, I actually couldn’t take my eyes off Lucy Punch as Amy Squirrel. She had this magnetic sexual energy and I fell for her immediately. And it took every ounce of my self-control not to make a nut joke. Ahh, damn it!