The Thousands

This has received mixed reviews, plus its screenwriters also wrote 2009’s utterly moronic Year One. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it an excellently cast, wickedly funny and amoral comedy about deranged ambitions and social masks. It’s surprisingly acerbic and unsentimental, in the vein of Observe and Report.

Middle-school English teacher Elizabeth Halsey (an increasingly busted-looking Cameron Diaz) is too busy landing a rich husband to be arsed impressing anyone else – least of all her class. However, her coworker Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch) thrives on being a gosh-darn goody-two-shoes. They’re competing for the affections of substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Diaz’s former flame Justin Timberlake) – Elizabeth sniffs money on Scott, while his guileless goofiness matches Amy’s chirpy persona. But when will Elizabeth realise she has a kindred spirit in gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel)?

There’s something likeably honest about Elizabeth’s dishevelment, conniving, and even her loneliness. While it lacks the heart of Bridesmaids, I enjoyed that Bad Teacher never forces Elizabeth to repent her wickedness in that moralistic Hollywood way. The film actually pokes fun at the ‘inspirational teacher’ genre, lampooning sanctimony in every situation and one-liner. C’mon, admit it – we’re all pretty bad people.