Some teachers just don't give an F. For example, there's Elizabeth. She's foul-mouthed, ruthless, and inappropriate. She drinks, she gets high, and she can't wait to marry her meal ticket and get out of her bogus day job. When she's dumped by her fiance, she sets her plan in motion to win over a rich, handsome substitute - competing for his affections with an overly energetic colleague, Amy. When Elizabeth also finds herself fighting off the advances of a sarcastic, irreverent gym teacher, the consequences of her wild and outrageous schemes give her students, her coworkers, and even herself an education like no other.

The major flaw with Bad Teacher is the movie is way too tame by far. In an era of shock value and one upmanship you have to be shocking and Bad Teacher just isn’t that shocking. With an era dominated by the Hangover’s and Judd Apatow’s you need to be truly Bad to pull off this kind of film and Bad Teacher is just naughty and not nearly Bad enough. That is not to say that the film isn’t funny as it can be but it almost feels like they were playing it safe rather than pushing the envelope. So instead of holding your sides laughing until it hurts you instead just find yourself chuckling through the film and occasionally laughing outright.

I am not sure if it was Cameron Diaz holding the film back because of her fame and A list status or if it was the director who just didn’t seem to have the balls to go all out. I just kept remembering Diaz in a film called There is Something About Mary that wasn’t afraid to push the envelope and it seemed almost a shame that they didn’t do the same here. From a tame car wash that was supposed to be sexed up but instead felt like it was pulled from a bad 80’s sitcom to finally plummeting into the world of the typical romantic comedy the film just didn’t seem to live up to its potential. Sure it was funny and was worth a good chuckle but I wanted to laugh hard and I wanted to be shocked and that was something the film did not deliver.

The sad thing is the film had so much more potential then what it achieves. The idea of a teacher who could care less and just wants to get high and get a boob job so she doesn’t have to work anymore has so many angles and so many ways you could go that would be hilarious. But in the end the film opts for your standard typical clichéd romantic comedy conclusion that is so obvious it is like they are hitting you over the head with it. Just man up and go that extra step forget all the romance and just be Bad like your title implied you were going to be.

Cameron Diaz does a fine job even if it is a little tame in the film and she can be quite funny at times. Justin Timberlake is where the film falls flat though as he is beyond miscast. He just can’t pull off the dimwitted goody two shoes the film wants him to be and rather than coming off as naïve but likeable you just end up hating his character. The true star is Lucy Punch who plays the despicable perfect teacher that you just can’t help but loving to hate. She is what adds the comedy to the film a lot of the times as you cheer against her when you should be cheering for her and not Diaz’s reprehensible character. Bad Teacher is funny and worth seeing but it could have been so much more.

Grade: B-