I always enjoy the opportunity to see a free movie, and seeing it early is just icing on the cake. Even if I am in a theater full of toddlers. Seriously, if you are at a free screening, and you are not amongst the hundred or so people turned away after the theater fills up, be a little gracious. If the only seats are up front, or if the projector breaks and you have to move to a different theater, don’t be a fucking crybaby about it.

But anyway.

What it’s about:

If you’ve seen the trailers, there will be no surprises for you in the film. If you have not, here goes: Cameron Diaz plays Liz Halsey, a foul-mouthed, gold-digging, amoral woman who has absolutely no business being a teacher. She plots, schemes, and steals her way towards a boob-job, and accidentally learns a lesson or two along the way. Well, sort of.

The Good:

Diaz is quite good, but then again, she always is. She’s pushing 40, but only gets prettier and more enjoyable to watch on screen. Especially when she is gleefully vulgar and rotten to everyone around her. The supporting cast is pretty good, as well. Justin Timberlake is kind of wasted as the handsome substitute teacher with a full bank account but an empty head, but Jason Segel is well-used as gym teacher Garrett, the one person in the film who not only won’t take Liz’s shit, but gives it right back to her. The female supporting cast was my favorite part of the film, however. Phyllis Smith from The Office is adorable as always, and Liz’s arch-nemesis, goody-two-shoes teacher Amy Squirrel is played by none other than English actress Lucy Punch, who you might recall as Eve Draper from Hot Fuzz. I was also quite pleased to hear the soundtrack rocking both Judas Priest and Dio. Well played, Bad Teacher. Well played.

The Bad:

There’s not a single moment on screen that you won’t already know is going to happen. That’s just the nature of the big-budget beast. Yes, Diaz swears a lot and does awful things, but that’s the premise of the film: nothing shocking there. But unlike Bad Santa, you never get past “she’s pretty, but she’s an asshole.” You don’t ever scratch the surface of her personality, nor do any of her antics ever go too far. About the most evil thing she does is purposefully give someone poison ivy on the face. A motherfucking shitty thing to do, but it is pretty quickly down-played in the film. You are never supposed to truly dislike Liz, and thus the movie never truly challenges the audience.

And that’s about it. Not a challenging film, but definitely quite funny. Well worth a watch, but it can probably wait for video.