There is nothing surprising about a press release hawking a juvenile ‘R’ rated comedy that is overly concerned with the pursuit of sex, drugs, alcohol and more sex. There are literally hundreds of such flicks that can be found populating the late night lineup of all the premium cable movie networks. Flicks such as these are also staple items that keep summer movie theaters in business. When I first came across the film under consideration here, ‘Bad Teacher’, I realized that it met all of the above criteria to the proverbial ‘Tee’. Then upon addition, albeit perusal I saw the notable difference. The vast majority of these high school raunchy movies are focused on the unruly antics of the students. As the title clearly states this film considers the inappropriate behavior of a teacher. The first time I ever heard about this film was admittedly on ‘You tube’. The Red banner trailer had gone viral. Those unfamiliar with that term a red banner trailer is one put out for limited distribution typically among critics and others close to the production. Unlike the more common Green banner trailer it is unrated and typically quite adult in content. The name is derived from the color of the MPAA ratings banner that precedes the actual trailer. The derivation of the name given to each class of trailer is obtained from the color of the MPAA banner preceding the actual trailer. I didn’t take much notice of it until the file was sent to me by a contact in a promotional firm I regularly deal with. I have to admit that it was so gross and puerile I could not help but to laugh. It reached down into that forgotten inner seven year old that still found school yard dirty jokes funny and that, as it turns out is the expressed goal of the movie. For once a trailer actually presented an actuate portrayal of the film. I didn’t have a chance to catch it in the theater but I did receive an opportunity to review the Blu-ray release which contained both the theatrical ‘R’ rated cut and the obligatory ‘Unrated’ version. Naturally this is not suitable for the kiddies in either form but for a movie night with some friends over beer and pizza it is ideal.

As the flick begins it is the end of another school year at John Adams Middle school in Illinois. The principal, Wally Snur (John Micheal Higgins), has a tradition of addressing the staff before summer vacation gets underway. Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is singled out as about to leave teaching to get married. This wedding is the prize for the pretty gold digger whose life ambition is to be a rich, pampered first wife. Unfortunately her future mother-in-law informed her son that Elizabeth has already spent and extravagant sum of money lavishing with gifts and a luxurious life style. She finds herself out on her pert butt with no alternative but to return to teaching. This is only intended as a temporary measure until she can locate a suitable man to pamper he in the style she so desires. It doesn’t take long before her rich guy radar acquires a target; Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), the new substitute teacher. It turns out that this target of opportunity is the idealistic heir to a family fortune worth billions. Elizabeth’s prime directive goes into over drive as she contrives a way to capture his devotion, or at least his trust fund. She discovers that he still pines for his ex, a very well endowed young woman with a couple of cup sizes on Elizabeth’s bosom. Her focus narrows to a single purpose, to save up sufficient cash to pump up her assets. With her only friend in tow, the socially awkward Lynn Davies (Phyllis Smith), Elizabeth sets out to accumulate enough money for the procedure. Her usual style of teaching is to come to school hung over, smoke some weed in the parking lot and put on a film for her class while she sleeps at her desk. This routine is disrupted when she discovers a few potential sources to supplement her income. The first is the annual car wash to pay for the seventh grade class tripe. This is usually overseen by her rival for Scott’s attention, the overly good and efficient Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch). Amy has taken it on to get Elizabeth kick out of her beloved profession. The car wash makes a record profit due to Elizabeth Daisy Dukes and stripper car wash methodology. It brought in so much money that a new record was set even after Elizabeth skims a sizable chunk of the cash.

There is one other means to top off her ‘TITS’ jar a bonus for the best scores in the state wide standardized test. She goes into high gear to get her students ready including pounding them with dodge balls for incorrect answers much to the amusement of the gym teacher, Russell Gettis (Jason Segal), who has a thing for Elizabeth that due to his cash poor condition is not reciprocated. In order to make sure her class has the best score she seduces a member of the testing committee and drugs him so she can copy the upcoming test and use the answers guaranteeing their success. In the second act the reversals typical of raunchy comedies and romantic comedies begin to appear giving the final act someplace to go. The conclusion is expectedly predicable but the promise of over the top bawdy humor was indeed met as promised.

The performances are above the usual for this sort of movie with Diaz deliciously amoral in her presentation of Elizabeth; it is acceptable to laugh at her constant misfortune because she is drawn as one on the most unsympathetic characters possible. Even though she brought her circumstances on herself it is she still is cute enough that the guys watching will generally her to win in the end, at least to some degree. Diaz is an excellent comedienne who owns this role. With her real life reputation for enjoying a good old fashion belch Diaz fits perfectly into Elizabeth’s high fashion heels while delivering lines of dialogue crafted to make most of the audience take notice. A lot of Blu-ray use the extra storage capacity to present both rated and unrated cuts but this one gives a bonus feature that should become the industry standard in these cases. If selected an icon, a red apple appears in the corner marking something omitted in the theatrical edition. It remains on the screen for the duration of the added material. This shows exactly what is different in the two cuts of the film. The movie achieves its goals nicely and I fun for those not easily offended.

Posted 10/27/11