Movie Moxie presents Bad Teacher
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 6:27PM 
Studio: Columbia Pictures
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Jake Kasdan
Review Rating: 6 Poisoned Apples
After being dumped by a rich fiancée and convincing herself the answer is a boob job, slacker teacher Elizabeth Halsey takes her old despised job in
school with renewed determination.
This is a lousy movie, even for an adult stoner comedy. Even with Cameron Diaz running around in tight black dresses and come-do-me heels (in junior high school mind you). Jason Segel, from such gems as Forgetting Sarah Marshal and Knocked Up, stars as the ordinary guy pal gym teacher who has the hots for our teacher, and his blunt and wry amusement can’t save the
movie either. I utterly fail to understand what person decided to tell Justin Timberlake he should be an actor too, much less in a movie like this, but here he is, as the nerdy dry-humping (serious!) next potential
sugar daddy for Halsey, complete with glasses and a bow tie. Lucy Punch, who apparently made a name for herself with such atrocities as Hot Fuzz and Dinner for Schmucks, stars as Amy Squirrel, rival teacher and cheerful psycho.
So, we have Elizabeth Halsey at the beginning of the movie, about to quit her teaching job and go marry her first sugar daddy. Who promptly drops her at the urging of his mommy and his bank account, so Halsey decides on the boob job and takes back her job at the same school, head low. The whole boob job deal stays the one attempt at maintained comedy throughout the first half of the movie, and that’s it. And they could’ve done so much more! So she does nothing in class but make the kids watch movies – that could’ve been turned into a funny save-your-ass moment towards the end of the movie. The whole carwash scene was just an excuse to prove how hot Cameron Diaz still is, and while I agree, the comedy potential for that scene was so much more! And what about the fat timid teacher friend, Lynn
Davies? She could’ve saved Halsey’s butt somewhere in there and create a lifelong ball-and-chain friend gag. The interaction between Halsey and Segel’s gym teacher, Russell, is some of the best acting in the movie, and that’s sad because it’s barely paid any attention to, and the best parts are over a joint. Really. Even the dry-humping scene with Timberlake’s character! The lead-in to that must have been hilarious – where was it? The whole stolen test scores for the school thing was utterly predictable and we never do find out what happened, Diaz just gives that big sarcastic smile and says nothing. And anyway, just the proposed storyline of the slacker stoner teacher that’s shallow and makes people laugh, is a little too far-fetched. Our education system is bad enough. I will grant you, it’s original, and that is something Hollywood is sorely lacking these days, but not comedy enough for me. Bad Teacher gets a disappointed 6 Poisoned Apples.
Reviewed by Alicia Glass
