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Bad Teacher

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Bad Teacher
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJake Kasdan
Written byLee Eisenberg
Gene Stupnitsky
Produced byJimmy Miller
David Householter
StarringCameron Diaz
Justin Timberlake
Lucy Punch
Jason Segel
CinematographyAlar Kivilo
Edited byTara Timpone
Music byMichael Andrews
Production
companies
Radar Pictures
Mosaic Media Group
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 24, 2011 (2011-06-24)
Running time
92 minutes
97 minutes (unrated version)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[1][2]
Box office$216,197,492[2]

Bad Teacher is a 2011 comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan based on a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, and Jason Segel. The film was released in the United Kingdom on June 17 and in the United States and Canada on June 24, 2011.

Plot

Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is a gold digging Chicago-area middle school teacher at the fictional John Adams Middle School who curses at her students, drinks heavily, smokes marijuana, and only shows movies while she sleeps through class. She plans to quit teaching and marry her wealthy fiancé, but when he dumps her after realizing she is only after his money, she must resume her job. She tries to win over substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), who is also wealthy. Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), a dedicated but overly enthusiastic teacher and colleague of Elizabeth, also pursues Scott while the school's gym teacher, Russell Gettis (Jason Segel), makes advances on Elizabeth, which she rejects. (Despite that he seems to be a far better match for her personality than Scott.)[3]

After learning Scott's ex-girlfriend had large breasts, Elizabeth plans to get surgery to enlarge her breasts, believing she is being overlooked by him. However, she cannot afford the $9,300 procedure. To make matters worse, Scott admits that he has a crush on Amy, only viewing Elizabeth as a friend. Elizabeth attempts to raise money for the surgery by participating in her 7th grade class car wash in provocative clothing and by manipulating parents to give her money for more school supplies and tutoring, but her efforts are not enough. Amy, acting on the growing resentment between them due to her pursuit of Scott and ignoring of school rules, attempts to warn the principal about Elizabeth's embezzlement scheme, but he dismisses her claims as groundless.

Elizabeth later learns that the teacher of the class with the highest state test scores will receive a $5,700 bonus. With this knowledge, Elizabeth decides to change her style of teaching, forcing the class to study intensely for the upcoming test. However, the change is too late and insufficient. The students have low scores on their quizzes, frustrating her even more. Meanwhile, she befriends Russell the gym teacher as Amy and Scott start dating. Elizabeth steals the state test answers by impersonating a journalist and seducing Carl Halabi (Thomas Lennon), a state professor who is in charge of creating and distributing the exams. Elizabeth convinces Carl to go into his office to have some sex, but drugs him and steals the test. A month later, Elizabeth wins the bonus and finally completes the money and pays for the appointment to get her breasts enlarged.

When Elizabeth learns that Amy and Scott are chaperoning an upcoming field trip, she smears an apple with poison ivy and leaves it for Amy, who ends up with blisters covering her face and cannot go. On the trip, Elizabeth seduces Scott. They dry hump and Elizabeth secretly calls Amy using Scott's phone leaving a message recording all the action ensuring she knows about the affair. However, Scott's peculiar behavior, which was subtly exposed by Russell when Scott would agree with anything even if it's contradictory, disappoints Elizabeth. Elizabeth later gives advice to one of her students (Matthew J. Evans) who has an unrequited crush on a superficial girl (Kathryn Newton as Chase Rubin-Rossi) in class, which causes her to reflect on how she has been superficial as well.

After hearing Elizabeth and Scott having sex, Amy switches Elizabeth's desk with her own to trick the janitor into unlocking Elizabeth's sealed drawer. The evidence Amy finds leads her to suspect Elizabeth cheated on the state exam. Amy informs the principal and gets Carl to testify against her. However, Elizabeth took embarrassing photos of Carl while he was drugged and uses them to blackmail him to say she is innocent. Having noticed her desk was switched, Elizabeth informs the principal that some teachers in the school are doing drugs. When the police bring a sniffer dog to search the school, they find Elizabeth's mini liquor bottles, marijuana and OxyContin pills in Amy's classroom, in Elizabeth's desk. Amy is moved to the worst school in the county by the superintendent. Scott asks Elizabeth to start over, but Elizabeth rejects him in favor of a relationship with Russell.

When the new school year starts, Elizabeth is kinder to her co-workers, has started a relationship with Russell, and did not get the breast enlargement because she feels that she looks fine the way she is. Elizabeth also has a new position in the school as the new guidance counselor.

Cast

  • Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth Halsey, a gold-digging, drug-abusing teacher and the protagonist
  • Jason Segel as Russell Gettis, a gym teacher who is smitten with Elizabeth
  • Justin Timberlake as Scott Delacorte, a substitute teacher whom Elizabeth likes
  • Lucy Punch as Amy Squirrel, Elizabeth's co-worker/rival and the film's antagonist who attempts to discredit Elizabeth
  • Phyllis Smith as Lynn Davies, Elizabeth's best friend and assistant
  • John Michael Higgins as Wally Snur, the principal at JAMS
  • Molly Shannon as Melody Tiara, Garrett's mother who invites Elizabeth to spend Christmas with her family
  • Eric Stonestreet as Kirk, Elizabeth's roommate
  • Thomas Lennon as Carl Halabi, an educator who gets seduced and blackmailed by Elizabeth
  • Kaitlyn Dever as Sasha Abernathy, a student who seems to idolize Elizabeth
  • Matthew J. Evans as Garrett Tiara, a lovestruck boy
  • Noah Munck as Tristan, one of Elizabeth's students
  • Kathryn Newton as Chase Rubin-Rossi, Garrett's crush

Production

Bad Teacher is directed by Jake Kasdan based on a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Columbia Pictures purchased Eisenberg and Stupnitsky's spec script in August 2008.[4] In May 2009, Kasdan was hired to direct Bad Teacher.[5] The following December, Cameron Diaz was cast in the film's lead role.[6] Justin Timberlake was cast opposite Diaz in March 2010, and filming began later in the month.[7]

Release

Box office performance

The film was released in North America on June 24, 2011 in 3,049 theaters. It took in $12,243,987—$4,016 per theater in its opening day and grossed a total of $31,603,106 in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office, behind Cars 2.[2] In Germany, the film reached No. 1 on the country's Cinema Charts in its opening week after 496,000 people saw the film. This caused Kung Fu Panda 2, which reached No. 1 the week before, to fall to No. 2.[8] The film grossed $100.3 million in the U.S.A. and Canada while its worldwide total stands at $216.2 million.[2]

Critical reaction

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of 169 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.3 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes's "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 26%, based on a sample of 34 reviews. The site's consensus is that "In spite of a promising concept and a charmingly brazen performance from Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher is never as funny as it should be."[9] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 47 out of 100, based on 37 reviews.[10] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a C plus on an A plus to F scale.[1]

Accolades

Award Category Recipient(s) Result
2011 Teen Choice Awards[11] Choice Movie – Comedy Won
Choice Movie Actor – Comedy Justin Timberlake Won
Choice Movie Actress – Comedy Cameron Diaz Won

Home media

Bad Teacher was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and a combo pack on October 18, 2011.[12]

The film is rated MA15 in Australia, however the rating was later changed to R16 in New Zealand.

References

  1. ^ a b Kaufman, Amy; Fritz, Ben (June 30, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Transformers' will detonate competition at holiday box office". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  2. ^ a b c d "Bad Teacher (2011)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  3. ^ "Bad Teacher". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  4. ^ Fleming, Michael (August 26, 2008). "'Teacher' in Columbia's class". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (May 27, 2009). "Director Jake Kasdan enrolls for 'Bad Teacher'". Reuters. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (December 9, 2009). "Cameron Diaz is a 'Bad Teacher'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (March 2, 2010). "Justin Timberlake hot for 'Teacher'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ http://www.media-control.de/bad-teacher-holt-bestnoten.html
  9. ^ "Bad Teacher". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  10. ^ "Bad Teacher Reviews, Ratings, Credits". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  11. ^ Ng, Philiana (July 19, 2011). "Teen Choice Awards 2011: 'Pretty Little Liars,' Rebecca Black Added to List of Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  12. ^ "Bad Teacher Blu-ray: Unrated + Theatrical". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
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