With apologies to my most loyal of readers (Hi Mom!) I return to you with the first movie review in 3 weeks! Apparently working 100+ hours a week makes it difficult to get to the theaters. My apologies.

This week my bride and I ventured out to see Bad Teacher, the raunchy comedy starring Cameron Diaz as an alcohol loving 7th grade teacher. The plot centers around Elizabeth Halsey (Diaz) and her quest to find a wealthy man to fall in love with, and her own quest to raise enough money to, um... "enhance" herself.

Throughout the movie Ms. Halsey finds herself pitted against Ms. Squirrel, played annoyingly wonderfully by Lucy Punch. The two female teachers are as opposite from one another as two characters can be. One is a dope smoking alcoholic who couldn't care less about her students, while the other gives each student an apple on the first day of school because she "learns as much from them, as they do from her".

It wouldn't be a movie with two females going at it if there wasn't a man involved, enter Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), the good looking substitute teacher who has lots of family money in the bank. While the two ladies are going after the heart throb, a certain lovable gym teacher (Jason Segel) makes an undeterred effort to capture the heart of Ms. Halsey.

Going into the movie I must admit that I didn't have the greatest of expectations. Cameron Diaz hasn't made me laugh since 1998's There's Something About Mary, and I wasn't really expecting that to change. I was just hoping that Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel would be funny enough to keep me entertained for 2 hours. As it turns out Segel's role wasn't plentiful enough, Timberlake was trying to hard, and Diaz had me laughing for the entire length of the movie. Her vulgar one-liners were truthful and hilarious, and despite just realizing that she is nearly 40, she looked perfect for the part. I guess that's what I get for doubting two veteran writers from one of my favorite TV shows (The Office)

I guess it turns out that I don't think any enhancements were necessary.


Bad Teacher
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Written by: Gene Stupnitsky, and Lee Eisenberg
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, and Jason Segel
My Rating: 3.75 out of 5
Would Gene Pick it?: Yes