BAD TEACHER (Jake Kasdan, Columbia, 2011)

There are times when I need to shut my mind off. To not think about anything, to watch a film that doesn't render any greater meaning or feeling is usually my choice of activities and the other night I had the perfect movie to watch. BAD TEACHER (Jake Kasdan, Columbia, 2011) is just such a movie, a mindless time filler. There are some charming moments, like anytime Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz) interacts with her students yet these moments are few and far between. Diaz does give a bold and provocative performance, turning the expected behavior of a teacher on its ear. She looks good, acts bad and makes every male audience member wish he had her as a teacher growing up. At the same time, the roles of Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch) and Lynn Davies (Phyllis Smith) are nice counterparts to Elizabeth, providing great comic foils to her disastrous teaching. Conversely the character of Russell Gettis (Jason Segal) is allowed to languish in obscurity, never fully becoming a large part of the narrative. And the Scott DeLaCorte (Justin Timberlake) is not only annoying, sad and desperate but on screen way too much. Flip around the screen time for those two male characters and the narrative gets a little better. The film is not very memorable at all except for one great scene and that is the car wash scene. Diaz goes all out in her slutty turn as teacher gone wrong here, shocking her students, teasing her pre-pubescent boys and completely titillating any passing male parent. The scene is also a great homage to 80's hair bands and their videos and it provides a particularly great use of the song "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake. And if memory serves I think Tawny Kitaen slithered all over a car in the video for that song. Ah the 80's, last bastion of morality in America. So, if you have nothing to do, if you love 80's hair bands and their songs, if you would like to punch JT in the face at times and if you think Cameron Diaz is incredibly smoking hot then try to catch BAD TEACHER. I think it's right up your alley.