"Bad Teacher" wasn't bad enough

Rating: 5/10 (1 July 2011)

"Bad Teacher" kinda threw me for a loop. As comedies go, it truly wasn't that bad. I got a few laughs out of it, but really nothing more. And there's the problem, I needed more.
The film seemed to want to exist in a similar realm as that of the far superior film, "Bridesmaids", but it simply isn't good enough. There are a few problems holding it back, the first of which is the absence of the big laugh. There isn't a single moment in this film that pushed the audience over the edge. The movie didn't go far enough, primarily in two key areas, the film wasn't crass enough, and it didn't have enough heart.
First problem is with the casting of Cameron Diaz. I'm sure she's a lovely women and it seems as if she's having the time of her life being insulting and rude, but perhaps that's the problem. Underneath all the insults and the drug use, is still America's sweetheart, acting like a middle schooler, who thinks all it takes to act grown up is to drop a few f-bombs.
It's not that Diaz isn't funny, she is, for the most part. It's just that her jokes(whether they were written or she improvised) lacked a punch that a more experienced comedic actress could've provided. Granted the shock value of seeing Cameron Diaz in such a role would have been lost, but perhaps the final product would have been more satisfying.
But also lost is a depth of character usually found in these kind of films. Since "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" audiences have been expecting a dose of heart with their crude humor, and while an attempt is made at redemption for the main character in this film, her intentions are so vain, and her actions so selfish, that in the end the character arc falls flat, and by the end of the film I just didn't feel like rooting for anyone.
So is "Bad Teacher" a successful comedy? Did it make me laugh? Yes, but this film just barely reaches average, which makes it a huge disappointment. I wanted to like "Bad Teacher", I'm a sucker for Judd Apatow films, and the countless copycats that have emulated that formula ever since "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" came out. But "Bad Teacher" didn't go far enough, and that has to be the biggest disappointment of all.