Bad Teacher

Indian Express rating: *1/2

Cameron Diaz can make a good thing out of most things. However,much as you may smile at Bad Teacher here and there,it’s hard to shake off the fact that this is a middle school instructor who runs movies in her class as she swigs booze or does drugs under the table,who does the mini-shorts and wet T-shirt car wash routine as part of fundraising for the school with students,who steals from that money so that she can fund a boob job (a fact that is an open secret in the school),and who cheats and then threatens with blackmail to ensure her class wins a state examination.

In the middle of all this,she also drives to desperation and finally discredits a good,if overly driven,co-teacher by going after her boyfriend.

Rather than address all of this,Bad Teacher concentrates its energies on sorting out Elizabeth Halsey’s love life. With a breast enhancement as her sole goal,she would rather have the moneyed substitute teacher Scott (Timberlake) than the laidback gym teacher (Segel). The first is earnest and ready to please,the second content to be who is. It’s easy to say who she would pick,the choice made even easier after a sex scene between Scott and Elizabeth that is as ridiculous as it is pointless. The students? They don’t get to choose.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com