Bad Teacher Discussion

Agreed.  This was really fun, but it really could've been something classic.  The setup was all there, but the film just kinda moves along until it ends.  It wants to soften Cameron Diaz's character while not punishing her for her bad behavior and ends up just kinda fizzling to a close.

Her hooking up with Jason Segel at the end was kinda beside the point and it just kinda happens because of some weird (HILARIOUS) dry humping and the fact that it's impossible to have a real conversation with Timberlake's character.

There's never really a perfunctory change of heart at the end, but I'd say that nothing really happens at the end.  I know there are some developments, but it doesn't feel fully satisfying.

I would've loved it if the film had gone much darker.  This could've been something in line with Election.

Cameron Diaz is kinda scary.  But I love that she's embracing that.

I know it's not a huge ensemble piece, but this is what Bridesmaids should have been. Raunchy, foul and hilarious. Not a classic, not in a Bad Santa way, but I had a great time with it. Doing a review on it. We make much mention of how this is a world where consequences happen to other people. Loved how she got away with it without really trying; I kinda sorta hoped Segel would be loaded and was just slumming because he could.

JT's great. And man, that dry humping scene.

Diaz is perfect. I always forget how funny she can be. And while it may be 'look at her being vulgar!' the entire time, for some reason it never gets old.

Not a fan of Diaz in the slightest and still enjoyed this a lot. Certainly funnier than the snooze-worthy Bridesmaids.

Yeah, I also agree with you reviews, Diaz is looking very nice in this movie and I just hope she has given fantastic performance in this movie. I'm waiting to watch Bad Teacher .......

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I loved it. Tonally and structurally, it's very Bad Santa, but it pulls it off so well that I can't fault the similarities. Diaz was fantastic, and as others have said, though the film does dip its toe into the light near the end, I liked how Elizabeth simply evolved a bit instead of having any kind of serious "three ghosts" moment (her final discussion with that geek about his crush was as close as it came to that sort of thing) . The person that really impressed me though was Lucy Punch. She's outstanding, and possibly the only person on Earth capable of using the word "bonkers" as a curse and making it frightening. I just heard that she's been cast as Deena Pilgrim in the POWERS TV series. That might be steady work for her, but I'm kind of hoping she'll break on film and have a varied career because her talent is stupefying.

I might elaborate a little more, but it's off to work for now. Either way, people should really give this film a chance.

The fiance is is really pumped to see this so I am going with her tonight. Was kind of dreading it but after reading the opinions here, I am actually kind of excited to see how it turns out.

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Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

The person that really impressed me though was Lucy Punch. She's outstanding, and possibly the only person on Earth capable of using the word "bonkers" as a curse and making it frightening.

She was the film's MVP.  I knew I'd seen her in something, but could not place her as Eve Draper from Hot Fuzz. 

Terrible. There's none of the danger or cruelty or immorality that made Bad Santa so memorable, and the filmmaking is just garbage. Flat and boring with utterly tone-deaf editing. There was no sense of rhythm, or understanding of comedic picture cutting. Actors like Lucy Punch and Phyllis Smith are great, but they're kneecapped by editing that doesn't know when to move on from a joke. All of the elements were present to make something very funny, but it had no teeth. There were a couple of chuckles, but if you're going to make an R-rated comedy with enthusiastic performers like this, why hold back?

I can understand digging it if you're expectations were through the floor, but I walked in genuinely excited by the promise shown by the red-band teaser. The film itself registered much more like the boring green-band trailer, even with all of its "raunch" in tact.

For some bizarre reason I did really like the score- a kind of a bouncy, optimistic Social Network thing going on. Inconsistently used though.

Watched this last night for the first time, way after the fact. Pretty funny, got a few chuckles out of me, but the ending is completely unearned and bothered me.

Like, if you're going for mean spirited then go all out. Diaz continuing to reject Segel at the end would've made a lot more sense for the character, except that she isn't much of a character. She's horrible, she's evil, but then why did she become a teacher in the first place? Establishing that she had once been a more compassionate person would've allowed for her to find redemption at the end, but from the very start she's horribly vapid, elitist, and sociopathic. 

The pacing was also all off. It's 45 minutes in before Diaz starts trying for the teacher of the year award, and her goal to get the breast implants is deflated early in the third act as she's not trying to win Timberlake anymore, so what was this movie really about? It meandered about for an hour and a half with thinly sketched caricatures that don't go big enough. Either give us human beings or cartoons, but this movie pulled its punches and fell somewhere in-between. 

The huge cum stain on Justin's jeans deserved a better movie to appear in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bartleby_Scriven 

Watched this last night for the first time, way after the fact. Pretty funny, got a few chuckles out of me, but the ending is completely unearned and bothered me.

 

Like, if you're going for mean spirited then go all out. Diaz continuing to reject Segel at the end would've made a lot more sense for the character, except that she isn't much of a character. She's horrible, she's evil, but then why did she become a teacher in the first place? Establishing that she had once been a more compassionate person would've allowed for her to find redemption at the end, but from the very start she's horribly vapid, elitist, and sociopathic. 

 

The pacing was also all off. It's 45 minutes in before Diaz starts trying for the teacher of the year award, and her goal to get the breast implants is deflated early in the third act as she's not trying to win Timberlake anymore, so what was this movie really about? It meandered about for an hour and a half with thinly sketched caricatures that don't go big enough. Either give us human beings or cartoons, but this movie pulled its punches and fell somewhere in-between. 

 

 

Can't really argue with any of this. The pacing is off and very episodic (more so than any real Act structure). But I was amused all the same. Saw the final shot coming a mile away. Thought to myself fairly early on, while she was giving one of the kids a pep talk ...