Bad Teacher stars Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth Halsey, a young woman who only wants to marry a rich man. Unfortunately, in the meantime she is stuck teaching middle school students, which is something she despises. She does the bare minimum and has absolutely no regard for her students or the faculty. Her only goal is to be rich.
The Story
What Elizabeth decides to do is to save money for breast augmentation in hopes that that will attract rich men to her. With her teacher’s salary, she has a lot of saving to do. Actually, she plans to rip off the school when they put on their car wash. She dresses provocatively in hopes of luring more customers to the event, and it pays off.
Then she learns that the teacher whose class gets the highest grades in the statewide standardized test will be awarded a financial prize. That’s the spark that sets her off. She knows she has to now buckle down and actually teach her kids instead of letting them watch movies every day. Yes, she was showing movies in class every day.
Justin Timberlake plays Scott Delacorte, a new teacher who just happens to be from a wealthy family. You guessed it. Elizabeth sets her sights on him. But another teacher, Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), also has eyes for the new guy. Amy is a perky, peppy, woman who loves teaching and has a wacky way of conducting her classes.
In the meantime, Russell Gettis (Jason Segel) the gym teacher, finds he is attracted to Elizabeth.
Review
I did not have high expectations about this film before I saw it and it lived up to my beliefs. This is a typical raunchy film with Diaz flaunting herself throughout the story. The problem I have with it is that none of the characters are appealing. They do not rate any adoration from viewers. That’s unfortunate as these actors have all played some good characters in their lives. These, however, are not characters that viewers will adore.
The film is basically predictable and boring, yet the actors could have made it more enjoyable. They didn’t.
The DVD
The Unrated Edition includes both the unrated and theatrical versions of the film. There are also bonus features including outtakes and deleted scenes. There is a humorous give and take between Timberlake and Segel as well as a featurette about the car wash scene in which Diaz dresses like Daisy Duke with short shorts, high shoes, and a shirt tied above her waist.
- Bad Teacher Unrated Edition DVD
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Theatrical Version Rated: R for sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use
- Theatrical Version Running Time: 92 minutes
- Unrated Edition Running Time: 97 minutes
- 2/5
