Bad Teacher: Rubbish Film

Alright its not THAT bad, but its bad enough.

So we have Cameron Diaz, along with Sandra Bullock and Drew Barrymore, is a Queen of the Romantic Comedy movie, which is probably why she chose to do a film where she is not the struggling heroine, in fact the audience are expected to want her to fail. Where you have a film you are not supposed to like the lead character (or at least their actions) there has to be somebody else to root for, this can be the person out to bring them down, here played by Brit Lucy Punch, or more likely the love interest who is being pushed to the side, the saving grace that is Jason Segel. Genuinely if Jason was not in this film I would have been sorely tempted to turn it off, he provides most of the laugh out loud moments and engages well with Cameron in a fight for best facial expressions.

Cameron is playing a deeply unlikeable character, she is a woman who has spent her life looking for a rich man to keep her, and when she is caught out by said rich man's mother and has to return to her teaching job proves to be such an awful educator she makes the children watch movies every class. That is until she realises she needs ten thousand dollars to get a boob job so she can attract a particularly stupid kind of rich mate, then we see her use and abuse the kids in her class to earn said cash.
Firstly its confusing that such a lack lustre educator got through a college degree and training, but we aren't supposed to think too much about those details, in fact without the highly sexualised content (dry humping for a considerable amount of time) this film could have easily been targeted at the tweenager generation rather than the older teen/young adult. Then you wonder how such a woman with obvious intelligence (she gets the job as teacher and when it becomes a financial incentive to educate the kids expects a much higher level than their age/education provides), could want anything as banal as a life lived off her husband.

Timberlake as her potential love interest plays his role well, he is tedious and soppy, but also another possibly more terrible human being than Cameron's character as he is pro the boob job, then also cheats on his equally soppy, but ruthless) teacher girlfriend played by Lucy Punch with Cameron. Jason Segel is one of the few anti-breast implants, which I loved him for, but is also down to earth and funny as he makes fun of Timberlake and Punch, or even Diaz in his pursuit of her.

So what I liked about this film other than Segel was that Diaz's character does not change a whole lot from start to finish, rather her values adapt better to the environment she has found herself in but her integral character does not distort to become a 'better' person at the finish.
Lessons are learnt and events are tied up, there are a few laughs along the way but overall this film is not great, Cameron and Jason are coasting in these roles, Lucy Punch does very well as the annoying co-worker out to prove what a poor educator Diaz really is, and Timberlake is frankly irritating as the substitute who never seems to leave the school.

If you are a fan of Cameron Diaz or Jason Segel give the film a chance, they are funny and engaging, however do not be surprised if you find yourself bored by the rest or wanting to throw something at Justin Timberlake while he simpers or sings in the most god awful rhymes.