Not Nearly As Bad As It Thinks

Rating: Null/10 (28 November 2011)

Bad Teacher (2011)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
After being dumped by her sugar daddy, teacher Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) returns to work where instead of helping her students she just tries to get through the day getting high and doing various other bad things. She gets a crush on a co-worker (Justin Timberlake) who she knows how a lot of money but she thinks in order to get him she must get larger breasts. Her plan of being rich takes a turn for the worse when the guy falls for her rival (Lucy Punch). BAD TEACHER is far from being a bad movie but at the same time outside of a couple big jokes the overall feel of the movie is rather disappointing. I think there's some good moments here and there but not nearly enough to make this comedy work. I think the biggest problem is with the screenplay itself. Yes, the idea of having a drug taking, cussing, worthless teacher is something that could have been very funny but sadly the screenwriters seemed to forget that you need something more than just cheap little scenes that really aren't all that funny. I'm sure most people will remember when they're young and certain students would think they were funny simply because they said a bad word. There wasn't any punchline and not even a real joke but instead it was just a simple cuss word. As you grew older you realized that there wasn't any really talented or funny about simply saying a bad word but this film doesn't seem to realize that. The majority of the jokes here simply feature Diaz saying something raunchy and that's simply not funny enough or "bad" enough to make the film. The weird thing is that this movie was sold for being "bad" yet the material here isn't very shocking when compared to other raunchy comedies of today. I'm sure had this been released in the 80s that some of the material might have been more shocking but in 2011 there's just nothing over-the-top here. Another problem with the film is that the rivalry between the two teachers isn't very interesting and especially because of the "other" teacher being so annoying. With all of that said, there's no question that Diaz is pretty good in her role as is Timberlake and Jason Segel in his part. The three certainly give it there all and manage a few nice laughs here and there. Some of the film's best moments are when it's not trying to be "bad" by dirty language and this includes a scene where Diaz helps a student who has just been embarrassed by admitting his love for a popular girl. BAD TEACHER is at best mild entertainment but at the same time you can't help but wish the screenwriters had been more creative and come up with something better than just profanity and smoking pot.