Bad Teacher
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
Written By: Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, Phyllis Smith, and John Michael Higgins
Director of Photography: Alar Kivilo, Editor: Tara Timpone, Production Designer: Jefferson Sage, Original Music: Michael Andrews
Rated: R for sex humor, sex, language, drugs, and well, at least there’s no violence.
Cameron Diaz is the type of actress who will get down and dirty for anything. When we first discovered her in There’s Something About Mary, she played ball with the raunchiest of humor, showing there was no low she wouldn’t go. Then she became a sweetheart, a title that never fit her. Flop after flop, such as the Charlie’s Angels reboot or Knight and Day tried to cast her as the pretty girl, and more serious pictures like Gangs of New York tried to place her as an Oscar contender. But Ms. Diaz has always been best at being crass, rude, and low, a talent that too few actresses have, or are too afraid to do (unless it also involves Nazis).
That is why watching Ms. Diaz smash through the Gates of Hell in Bad Teacher is so appealing. The film is more or less summed up by its title—Ms. Diaz plays a very, very bad person, who is shaping America’s youth in the worse way possible. Under the direction of Jake Kasdan, known for his cult hit Orange County and the very ridiculous and funny Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Bad Teacher is a bit of a narrative mess, dropping scenes and subplots like a blind WWII bomber. But Ms. Diaz, as well as her fellow co-stars, sell this ridiculous and very funny movie.
