Bad Teacher

The problem with Bad Teacher is that it's not nearly as funny as it thinks it is. There are some good laughs, sure, but for every minute of laughter, there are ten minutes of boring, badly written, trite nonsense. That doesn't really add up in the end. The actors are definitely the saving factor here because the script really isn't good. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Thank God for Jason Segel!

Bad Teacher follows Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth Halsey, a first year teacher who makes a big to-do at the end of the year celebration about leaving to get married. However, moments later, she gets dumped by her super rich fiancee because he realized what a gold digging bitch she really is. Flash forward to the beginning of the next school year, when Elizabeth returns to her true calling as a teacher. No, not really. She's pretty much the worst teacher ever, as you have already garnered from the trailer. She doesn't learn her students names. She drinks and smokes weed on the job. She thinks teaching is equivalent to showing Dangerous Minds in class. But she is determined to save enough money so she can get a boob job and meet a rich man. Then she meets Justin Timberlake's brand new teacher. Seems he is the heir of a watchmaking fortune and Elizabeth hones in on him, even though he is the biggest douchebag in all of teaching. Throw in Lucy Punch as a perky rival teacher and Jason Segal as the hilarious gym teacher with the hots for Elizabeth and you've got yourself a semi-raunchy predictable comedy.

Like I said, the writing is bad, but the actors do their best with what they've been given. Diaz is very good at playing unlikeable. Her character is sort of a walking disaster and she does a lot of very terrible things, but you still somehow manage to find yourself cheering for her. I have been praising Timberlake's talents as an actor for a very long time. And while I wasn't as impressed with him in The Social Network as everyone else was, I think he was damn near perfect in Alpha Dog a few years back. His character here is so under developed and badly written, that it's not entirely his fault that his performance is sort of lackluster and one-note. Lucy Punch all but steals the show as the perky, perfect rival to Elizabeth. She is absolute perfection and a bonefied scene stealer. Then there is Jason Segel, who I love so much, as the sweet and funny gym teacher who is a little bit naughty and completely endearing. I wish Jason Segel could be in every movie, honestly. Throw in a few small roles by Molly Shannon (completely pointless) and Eric Stonestreet completely and utterly unrecognizable as Cameron from Modern Family) and you've got yourself a completely average in every way comedy.

In conclusion, Bad Teacher is not something you are going to remember for a long time. Heck, I'll probably forget about it by the end of the summer. That's not to say it's without merits completely. There are very funny parts of the film. Still, it's predictable and average in every way.

Grade: C

[In case anyone actually reads this, I'll be away from the blog for three weeks. I'll be back sometime after July 22.]