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Rashid Irani's review: Bad Teacher
She's a really awful breed of educator. Foul-mouthed, conniving and perpetually hung-over, the titular anti-heroine shouldn't even be around students. Beyond a few gross-out gags and an uninhibited performance by Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher flunks the grade.
Flunking the grade
Bad Teacher
Direction: Jake Kasdan
Actors: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake
Rating:**
She's a really awful breed of educator. Foul-mouthed, conniving and perpetually hung-over, the titular anti-heroine shouldn't even be around students. Under the circumstances, we hardly want to root for her or the film which comes across a cheesy, calculatedly un-PC romp.
It doesn't help that the gold-digger teacher (Diaz) is so desperate to ensnare a wealthy colleague (Timberlake), that she's willing to get breast implants to enhance her desirability. She also abuses her position by pilfering money and seducing an examiner in order to obtain a test paper. Worse, when confronted she denies both the allegations.
Meanwhile, she has to contend with a goody-goody competitor (Lucy Punch, too shrill for comfort) and fend off the advances of a gym teacher (Jason Segel) with the proverbial heart of gold. The proceedings are mired in mawkishness what with the mean-spirited educator's ultimate redemption. Rather unconvincingly, the earlier nastiness is traded in for a cute 'n' cuddly resolution.
Beyond a few gross-out gags and an uninhibited performance by Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher flunks the grade.
