Australian Penthouse

Bad Teacher

Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake, John Michael Higgins
Sony Pictures

WHEN it comes to Hollywood comedies, there are two main varieties: Type A is the kind that attempts to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, hedging its bets with safe humour and inoffensive jokes to attract everyone from kids to grandparents and maximise the potential for high returns; whereas Type B is directed at adults of the not-too-old and none-too-young varieties. Such comedies include a wide range of humour and often try to push the boundaries of an audience’s comfortability in order to reap laughs. They offer a broader palette of comic material to work with because they aren’t restricted by petty concerns such as lower ratings, that can render a comedy impotent and otherwise deny its true potential.

Paradoxically, Bad Teacher attempts to strike a middle ground between these two core archetypes. Even Australia’s Classification Board seems to be confused how to classify this film, giving what would normally fall under an MA15+-type comedy a lower M15 rating (usually reserved for Type A comedies), despite the presence of drugs, boobs, sex and plenty of good ol’ fashioned f-bombs.

Cameron Diaz takes a foul-mouthed turn as Elizabeth Halsey, a junior high teacher who does the bare minimum to get through the day. When her opera-loving fiancé dumps her, Elizabeth is forced back to the teaching job that she loathes. From here, her plan is simple: save enough cash to get a boob job and score herself a wealthy beau so she can spend his money and never work again. When new teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) arrives at her school, Elizabeth has to compete for his attention with goody two-shoes nemesis Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), while shooting down the advances of gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel).

The premise alone is ripe with comedic potential, but the execution is more awkward than hilarious, with a constant shift in tone between Type A and B comedy types. The major problem with this is that Type A comedies are usually resolved by some form of redemption for ‘bad egg’ characters. Although predictable, the better comedies from this category dedicate a decent chunk of screen time to this inevitability so that the protagonist’s character arc doesn’t feel forced, rushed or otherwise out of place.

Type B comedies can swing wildly with the intent of reaping laughs from anywhere and everywhere don’t necessarily need such endings. The moments where Bad Teacher falls apart were when the storyline opened doors to subplots that weren’t resolved, leaving the overall ending to the film rushed and more confusing than satisfying.

While the trailer seemed to boast the lion’s share of comedic moments—as well as funnier alternate takes—thankfully, a fair share of gags do work. When Elizabeth is at her worst, Diaz owns the character in a pleasant turn that shows she has more comedic skill than simply playing the sweet and innocent ‘straight man’. Timberlake and Segel also do a great job with what they’re given, but have little screen time between them and fewer gags than the two female nemeses of Bad Teacher. Unfortunately, Diaz’s counterpoint, Punch, takes on an absurdist persona for Amy Squirrel that’s eerily familiar to her ex-girlfriend routine in Dinner for Schmucks—she had me cringing more than laughing at her over-the-top performance.

The biggest disappointment with Bad Teacher is how confused the collective talent appears to be with the overall direction of the film. If Bad Teacher had trod a mature, Apatow-like path with its funny premise and the tone hinted at in the trailer—instead of trying to jump between two different comedy archetypes—the end result would have been a whole lot funnier and less bipolar.

BAD TEACHER is in cinemas July 21

Review: Nathan Lawrence

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