Bad Teacher (2011)

I had reservations about this but Sarah, Jack, and I laughed A LOT all the way through this slapstick comedy about a foul-mouthed, selfish, gold-digging woman who's a middle school teacher "for all the right reasons: shorter hours, summers off, no accountability." That line is in the trailer, so no spoiler. Cameron Diaz is really funny in the lead. My favorite line about her isn't an exact quote, nor can I find it, but I swear I heard Roger Ebert say on TV that her debut performance in The Mask (1994) could be attributed to her Wonderbra but he was pretty sure it was her talent and comic timing. I put that in my post about You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, coincidentally writing about Diaz' co-star here, Lucy Punch. What I didn't know until just now is that Diaz actually was a Wonderbra model before breaking into movies. I have liked her in most everything I've seen, notably the black comedy The Last Supper (1995), There's Something About Mary (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999), the dramas Gangs of New York (2002) and My Sister's Keeper (2009) (I know I saw this and can't figure out why I didn't write about it). Punch is once again terrific (as in Being Julia (2004) and Dinner for Schmucks), this time with a flawless American accent (she's British)--so good at being the super-intense/crazy co-star. Also noteworthy are Jason Segal (I listed my faves in I Love You, Man) as the sane gym teacher, Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog (2006), The Social Network) as the dorky, bespectacled substitute who likes boy bands (wink wink), John Michael Higgins (Christopher Guest movie regular, e.g. Best in Show (2000) and For Your Consideration (2006), plus 77 other titles) as the beleaguered principal, and Phyllis Smith (Phyllis on The Office) as the sweet teacher. The blonde student Chase is played by Kathryn Newton, who played Jay Mohr's daughter in Gary Unmarried, now cancelled. And Eric Stonestreet, best known as the queenly Cameron on Modern Family, has a particularly butch cameo.

Second generation director Jake Kasdan (his dad Lawrence has been nominated for four Oscars, for The Big Chill (1983), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Grand Canyon (1991), the last of which he shared with his wife, Jake's mother, Meg Kasdan, among many credits) did a pretty good job on Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), five episodes of Freaks and Geeks, and one each of Undeclared and Californication, and we had no complaints about his work here, directing the script written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (co-wrote 15 episodes of The Office).

Composer Michael Andrews (I wrote about him in Bridesmaids), though talented, has once again scored a movie where few will notice his soundtrack because there are so many memorable songs. The list is available on imdb (right now tonight the page is down for maintenance and it says "try again in a few hours"), squidoo, and the reelsoundtrack blog (you can listen at the latter two).

The critics are hatin' on this one: 44% on rottentomatoes, though audiences gave it 69% and it scored 6.1 out of 10 on imdb. But we had a good time and I suspect, if you don't over-think it, you will, too.