I wanted to watch this movie because I got the impression that it could be a new kind of "High School Rock" or something similar. Simply a "bad" teacher who discovers that she really wants to do something good for her students and actually helps them in getting good grades and self-esteem. But unfortunately, there is NOTHING of that in that movie!
I don't even know how to begin my review of how bad this movie is. The only good thing about it is the cast: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segal, Lucy Punch, Phyllis Smith... This movie almost SCREAMS for wanting to be a big funny comedy! The cast, including Diaz, is doing an amazing job fitting their roles. Especially Timberlake, who is showing a rather odd kind of roll as the hot hipster new age idiot. But nonetheless, all their effort doesn't save this movie from falling on its knees.
Because this movie gets nothing right. The jokes are harsh, nasty, dirty and political incorrect. Some may find them interesting and funny because of that fact. I just find them typically MTV-generation bad. The story and the pace in which the film develops are horrible too! It starts out by introducing how "bad" of a teacher Diaz is. She clearly shows that she has no interest in her students and their future, lets them watch only movies each day and forces them to do national tests without them having learned anything. And when the students fail (of course), she yells and threatens them to do a better job. And what's more, because threats don't work either, she lets them stand in line at the gymnasium and throws basketballs at each kids face if the kid doesn't answer correctly to one of her questions. Seriously?? What is this movie telling us? That the education system in the US is messed up or that you can teach students better with corporal punishment? All that attitude is so unrealistic, you wonder how she got her teachers' license in the first place.
But sadly, Diaz is never getting away from her attitude. She is never really growing or changing in that movie. She sleeps, drinks, smokes, steals, takes drugs, is violent, cynical, lies and betrays all people around her. And gets always away with it. Right from the beginning of the movie until the end. What's worse, she even gets a colleague of hers to be forced to move to another school AND gets the guy in the end who was chasing her through the movie the entire time. Wonder what he sees in her?
There are only two scenes in the movie where you think that Diaz finally will change, or at least show her "real" nice self. The first one is when she is smoking pod in her car and one of her students is giving her home baked cookies. For the brink of a second, Diaz is softening up and gives her student the advice to loosen up a little ("stop acting like you're racing for congress"). But she immediately finishes with "You're hopeless, kid." The other scene is after one of the boys in her class openly confesses his love to his crush, gets rejected and runs away in his misery. Diaz chases him, and when they finally sit down to talk about what happened, she repeats herself: "I told you so many times, a guy like you will NEVER get a girl like her. Take that ugly hat off your face!"
I became so frustrated by those small moments when it seems like Diaz finally will show us her nice self, only to prove once more what kind of a sad and mean psycho she really is. This movie gives you nothing and is not rewarding to watch in any way. You will get no interesting story, no plot twists, no philosophical depth, no moral message, no happy ending. It's really one of these movies where you have to ask yourself how the script got past the producing rights in the first place. I can simply not recommend this movie to anyone.
I don't even know how to begin my review of how bad this movie is. The only good thing about it is the cast: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segal, Lucy Punch, Phyllis Smith... This movie almost SCREAMS for wanting to be a big funny comedy! The cast, including Diaz, is doing an amazing job fitting their roles. Especially Timberlake, who is showing a rather odd kind of roll as the hot hipster new age idiot. But nonetheless, all their effort doesn't save this movie from falling on its knees.
Because this movie gets nothing right. The jokes are harsh, nasty, dirty and political incorrect. Some may find them interesting and funny because of that fact. I just find them typically MTV-generation bad. The story and the pace in which the film develops are horrible too! It starts out by introducing how "bad" of a teacher Diaz is. She clearly shows that she has no interest in her students and their future, lets them watch only movies each day and forces them to do national tests without them having learned anything. And when the students fail (of course), she yells and threatens them to do a better job. And what's more, because threats don't work either, she lets them stand in line at the gymnasium and throws basketballs at each kids face if the kid doesn't answer correctly to one of her questions. Seriously?? What is this movie telling us? That the education system in the US is messed up or that you can teach students better with corporal punishment? All that attitude is so unrealistic, you wonder how she got her teachers' license in the first place.
But sadly, Diaz is never getting away from her attitude. She is never really growing or changing in that movie. She sleeps, drinks, smokes, steals, takes drugs, is violent, cynical, lies and betrays all people around her. And gets always away with it. Right from the beginning of the movie until the end. What's worse, she even gets a colleague of hers to be forced to move to another school AND gets the guy in the end who was chasing her through the movie the entire time. Wonder what he sees in her?
There are only two scenes in the movie where you think that Diaz finally will change, or at least show her "real" nice self. The first one is when she is smoking pod in her car and one of her students is giving her home baked cookies. For the brink of a second, Diaz is softening up and gives her student the advice to loosen up a little ("stop acting like you're racing for congress"). But she immediately finishes with "You're hopeless, kid." The other scene is after one of the boys in her class openly confesses his love to his crush, gets rejected and runs away in his misery. Diaz chases him, and when they finally sit down to talk about what happened, she repeats herself: "I told you so many times, a guy like you will NEVER get a girl like her. Take that ugly hat off your face!"
I became so frustrated by those small moments when it seems like Diaz finally will show us her nice self, only to prove once more what kind of a sad and mean psycho she really is. This movie gives you nothing and is not rewarding to watch in any way. You will get no interesting story, no plot twists, no philosophical depth, no moral message, no happy ending. It's really one of these movies where you have to ask yourself how the script got past the producing rights in the first place. I can simply not recommend this movie to anyone.