Bad Teacher


Bad Teacher is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, Jason Segel, and Phyllis Smith.
The film was released in the United States and Canada on June 24, 2011. It focuses on a lazy middle school teacher who returns to the teaching job she hates and tries to make enough money for breast implants after her wealthy fiancé dumps her.

Plot

Elizabeth Halsey is a lazy, gold-digging Chicago-area middle school teacher at John Adams Middle School who curses at her students, drinks heavily, smokes marijuana, and only shows movies while sleeping through class. She plans to quit teaching and marry her wealthy fiancé, but when he dumps her after learning from his mother that Elizabeth is only after his money, she resumes her job. She tries to win over wealthy substitute teacher Scott Delacorte. Amy Squirrel, a dedicated but overly enthusiastic teacher and colleague of Elizabeth, also pursues Scott while the school's gym teacher, Russell Gettis, makes advances on Elizabeth, which she rejects.
Elizabeth plans to have her breasts enlarged, and becomes all the more motivated to do so once she learns Scott's ex-girlfriend had large breasts. 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, informs the principal about Elizabeth's embezzlement, 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 intensely study To Kill a Mockingbird for the test. However, the change is too late. The students score low on the book quizzes, frustrating her even more. Meanwhile, she befriends Russell, as Amy and Scott start dating. Elizabeth plans to steal the state test answers by impersonating a journalist and seducing Carl Halabi, a state professor in charge of creating and distributing the exams. Elizabeth convinces Carl to go into his office to have sex, but drugs him and steals the answer key. A month later Elizabeth wins the bonus, completing her needed funds, and books her breast enlargement.
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 leaves Amy a message through Scott's phone, recording all the action. However, Scott's ever-changing ideals disappoint Elizabeth. Elizabeth later gives advice to one of her students who has an unrequited crush on the superficial Chase in class, which causes her to reflect on her own superficial ways.
Back at the school, 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 been informed that her desk was switched, Elizabeth states that teachers in the school use 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 transferred to the worst school in the state by the superintendent. Scott asks Elizabeth to start over, but Elizabeth rejects him in favor of Russell, having learned she has much in common with him.
When the new school year starts, Elizabeth has reformed; she is kinder to her co-workers, has started a relationship with Russell, and did not get her breasts enlarged because she feels that it is unnecessary. She also has a new position as the new guidance counselor.

Cast

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. In May 2009, Kasdan was hired to direct Bad Teacher. The following December, Cameron Diaz was cast in the film's lead role. Justin Timberlake was cast opposite Diaz in March 2010, and filming began later in the month.

Release

Box office

The film grossed $100.3 million in the U.S. and Canada, while its worldwide total stands at $216.2 million. Documents from the Sony Pictures hack revealed the film turned a profit of $64 million.
The film was released in North America on June 20, 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. 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.

Critical response

Bad Teacher received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 44%, based on 178 reviews, with a rating average of 5.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "In spite of a promising concept and a charmingly brazen performance from Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher is never as funny as it should be." Metacritic gave the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

Home media

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

Possible sequel and TV series

On June 20, 2013, Sony announced that it was working on Bad Teacher 2. The company hired Justin Malen to write the sequel. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who wrote the first film, will return as producers. A release from Sony studios said the project is "being developed for Cameron Diaz to star in the film, but no deal is yet set with the actress." Jake Kasdan will again be the director.
On May 23, 2013, CBS announced a TV series based on the movie, with CBS Studios and Sony Pictures Television as production partners. The show premiered on April 24, 2014, in the 9:30pm time slot. Ari Graynor played the Cameron Diaz role, while Sara Gilbert, Ryan Hansen, David Alan Grier, Kristin Davis and Sara Rodier also appeared. On May 10, 2014, CBS canceled Bad Teacher after airing only three episodes. Bad Teacher last aired during the spring TV season on May 22, 2014. However, in July 2014, CBS burned off the remaining unseen episodes by showing two episodes on Saturday nights.