Now, I don’t want to write the movie off as a flop — the Comediva within is prone to trying her very best to support every movie, TV show, book that’s penned by and/or starring a kickass comedienne — but, blurrrghhhh.
I can genuinely say that I appreciated so many scenes — the awkward lunch between Diaz and Phyllis Smith (of The Office fame), Justin Timberlake’s serenade, and the protagonist’s attempt to seduce an overzealous Illinois State Test official — as well as the fact that the movie gave comediennes like Smith and Lucy Punch the chance to showcase their hilarious talents. It was clear that director Jake Kasdan knew full well he was amidst some of the best in the biz.
So the problem for me was that, while scenes like the above were fantastic, they didn’t flow well together. Instead of feeling like a good ol’ fashioned, focused 90-minute comedy, where the narrative is clear and character growth by way of off-kilter happenstances achieves its objective, Bad Teacher was something like a prolonged sketch show.
The thinking behind the film’s writing must have been something along the lines of, “We need a silly scene here,” “Oh, I had this great idea for a comedy bit for Phyllis!” and, “We need a little more raunch. How about here?”
When Act 1 started, I had high hopes. The opening had the audience laughing, cheering, even, but after about an hour I wondered, “Okay … so … what about Act 2? Where’s the conflict? What is this movie about?”
In that hour-long act, the fact that Diaz’s character was a terrible teacher was established, reiterated and re-reiterated. What’s more, while the actress has proved herself to be quite the comediva in past work like There’s Something About Mary, The Holiday, and, yes, even Charlie’s Angels (whatever, I know I’m not the only one who secretly loves that movie), she wasn’t this movie’s comedic focus.
Don’t get me wrong, she played the part of unapologetic bitch very well — but that’s about all she had the chance to do. Because the comedy beats were repeated throughout all 92 minutes (92 minutes that felt much longer), nothing surprised, nothing developed (even after committing a really terrible crime, for instance, she never met her comeuppance and learned her lesson, or even, in my opinion, deserved her happy ending), and, ultimately, Act 3 was almost completely unnecessary. Those 92 minutes could have been cut down to just the first 60.
So instead of being a solid comedy piece that hits its mark by presenting something new (which it definitely had the potential to do), you could argue that Bad Teacher was a character study of a morally objectionable woman … who has hilarious friends.
With all that said, I didn’t hate the movie; if anything, Bridesmaids really raised the bar for female-driven comedies and Bad Teacher just didn’t quite live up to it.
****
I openly enjoyed BOTH of the Charlie’s Angels movies, which in lots of ways were better than her other movies. Though I have most respect for CD for her role in Being John Malkovich… got good an’ fugly for that one.