Bad Teacher - Movie Review

First off, I'm digging the trend of raunchy comedies starring mostly females or with female leads. I hope it continues, but that they don't run it into the ground. However, this is Hollywood we are talking about, so of course they are going to run it into the ground.

This movie is likely going to draw comparisons with Bad Santa simply because "Bad" is in the title. While there are a few similarities, this is nowhere near as good as Bad Santa. The interesting thing for me is that Bad Santa actually had some character growth that made sense. In Bad Teacher, it seems kind of forced. In fact, the plot itself really isn't all that good. There's a lot of randomness to this movie.

The Good:

- I like that Cameron Diaz took on a role like this. See was funny. It seems like she went out of her way early in her career to play sweet or goofy characters (and in some really bad movies). I think she waited too long for this unfortunately. Still, I hope this isn't the last time she does something like this.

- As much as I want to hate him as a guy, Justin Timberlake was pretty good in this. I only say 'hate' because the guy just seems to have a charmed life. It's hard not to be a little envious of the guy. He's been in some good movies so far though, so maybe he'll turn out to have a good movie career.

- The supporting cast, in general, was pretty good. I felt that some of the funnier parts of the movie involved some of the supporting characters.

- There are many funny bits in this. Yes, it's raunchy comedy, but I never felt like anything was too mean or disgusting.

The Bad:

- Not enough Jason Segel. It seems like the only scenes he's in the movie you see in the trailer. He'd be in a scene and then disappear for like 20 minutes. You'd almost forget he was supposed to be in this until he shows up again.

- As I mentioned before, the plot is kind of weak. It's basically about a teacher that hates teaching and then wants to buy a pair of fake tits to get a guy to like her.

- I mentioned the randomness. It seems like they would just setup a joke or bit and then nothing would happen for a few minutes and then they'd do the next joke. It was like an SNL episode without the commercials.

- There isn't a lot of character development for Cameron Diaz's character. You really don't have a lot of reason to like her and when she eventually turns things around, it seems to just kind of come out of thin air.

The Verdict:

Overall, I thought this was funny enough that I enjoyed it, but didn't really think it was anything special or extraordinary. This is a good matinee, and once again, is a movie that's better to see with friends after having a few drinks.