When a friend suggested I see the movie “Bad Teacher” I was not sure I will like it. From the web comments, I expected the comedy to dull & boring and the sexy visuals of Cameron Diaz especially as a teacher will be making it unpleasant to watch. But the movie turned out to be better than that. It is by no means a great movie or anything but just different, certainly watchable & at places I even laughed while watching it.
The movie is about a seventh-grade teacher Elizabeth Halsey (played by Cameron Diaz) who is an exact opposite of an ideal teacher. She does everything that is wrong with a teacher, she sleeps in classes, secretly drinks alcohol in class, doesn’t even know her students’ names or what’s in the syllabus and she even uses Marijuana in the school parking lot. To fund her breast implant (which is to attract a wealthy spouse) she is shown stealing items from a student’s house, dressing provocatively in a student car wash to pocket the collection and even accepting grafts from parents for better grades and drugs the state examiner. Then there is the usual love story with Elizabeth trying to impress a wealthy substitute teacher while the gym teacher likes her.
What makes the movie watchable is the simplicity and the frankness of the portrayal. It doesn’t sugarcoat anything. The Director breaks the typical mould of a teacher character in movies – someone who is normally inspirational and above criticism. And at the end too, Elizabeth doesn’t get caught, instead, the good teacher gets punished and Elizabeth gets away, she stops being sloppy and becomes a guidance counsellor.
Bad Teacher (2011)