Bad Education
- Director: Cory Finley
- Writer: Mike Makowsky
- Producer: Oren Moverman; Caroline Jaczko; Fred Berger; Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
CGiii Comment
Mutton trying to pass as lamb!
This is a bespoke white collar crime...told with an ambiguous charm amid all the duplicity. Hell, let's face it...teaching and teachers are underpaid and overworked. The things teachers are expected to do now is way beyond their [original] remit. Parents have ousted most of their parental responsibilities onto teachers. The only good thing to come out of COVID is that parents will realise they should not take teachers - as so many do - for granted. This thankless occupation should be thank more often.
Bad Education lays it out clear...you earn a shed-load more selling houses than educating the future...footballers kick a ball, nurses save lives! Life's financial disparity...and, as they say, crime pays! Rather well, as it turns out!
Here, the crime in question...hurt no-one [apart from the perpetrators]...if anything, the crime itself benefited the whole community! That's what makes this film so entertaining...it's not an all-out, white knuckled condemnation...there is justification [for the crime]...even if that justification is all about greed and vanity. It is a 'fun' analysis!
Wrinkled faces are smoothed by the scalpel, libidos are soothed by youthful hands, morals are leaves in the wind...and, betrayals are the order of the day. Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney are the quintessential lovable [and extremely] well-dressed rogues...it's difficult not to have some admiration for their characters...sympathy even!
This is crime with a greedy heart-of-gold. These are mid-life crises...gone awry. This is a story told with more affection than anger. Thank you...teachers.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A Long Island school superintendent and his assistant are credited with bringing the district unprecedented prestige. Frank is a master of positive messaging, whether before an audience of community leaders or in an office with a concerned student or parent. That changes when a student reporter uncovers an embezzlement scheme of epic proportions, prompting Frank to devise an elaborate cover-up.
Cast & Characters
Hugh Jackman as Frank Tassone;
Ray Romano as Big Bob Spicer;
Welker White as Mary Ann;
Allison Janney as Pam Gluckin;
Annaleigh Ashford as Jenny Aquila;
Stephanie Kurtzuba as Carol Schweitzer;
Calvin Coakley as Chad Schweitzer;
Geraldine Viswanathan as Rachel Bhargava;
Sung Yun Cho as Joyce - First Agent;
Justin Swain as Shawn - Second Agent;
Laura Patinkin as Irene - Third Agent;
Kathrine Narducci as Sharon Katz;
Brent Langdon as Todhunter - First Teacher;
Tia DeShazor as Maya;
Victor Verhaeghe as Doug Bressler;
John Scurti as Joseph Scalvo;
Brian Sgambati as Conference Speaker;
Rafael Casal as Kyle Contreras;
Hari Dhillon as David Bhargava;
Alex Wolff as Nick Fleischman