Bad Teacher ***
Dir. Jake Kasdan. 92 mins. Empire Theatres, Grand Cinemas. June 23.

Movie review
From Time Out London
By all reports, ‘Bridesmaids’ is the women-behaving-badly Hollywood comedy to catch this summer – but here’s a no-frills taster before the main course… Cameron Diaz is Elizabeth, a dirty-mouthed, hard-drinking, pot-smoking Chicago teacher who cares more about raising cash for a boob job than passing on knowledge to her charges. A break-up with a fiancé keeps her unhappily in the education system, where she has both eyes on a wealthy colleague, Scott (Justin Timberlake), although he’s more keen on overachieving Amy (Lucy Punch). Meanwhile, the nice-guy sports coach (Jason Segel) holds a flame for Elizabeth…

It’s a basic but amusing farce gifted with enough sharp lines to carry you through the lean patches. ‘I love helping bums,’ says Elizabeth, her character straight from the ‘Bad Santa’ school of writing – a shit you can love – although this film’s political incorrectness is far more self-conscious and coy. Diaz relishes the role: compared to the dire ‘Knight and Day’, this is her ‘Citizen Kane’.

Author: Dave Calhoun
Time Out London Issue 2130: June 16-June 23, 2011