It’s date night, you’re looking for anything worth seeing at the movies, something funny, maybe something romantic. Well, it’s far from romantic, but Bad Teacher is funny. Not to the level of hilarious or “my new favorite comedy”, but definitely funny enough it’s worth the price of a movie ticket, or a DVD rental. It’s a decent movie, but mostly just for being a good at-par comedy.

The movie doesn’t have the best of premises. Basically, the superficial middle school teacher Elizabeth Halsey, (Cameron Diaz) tries to raise money to get breast implants so she can woo the naive Scott Dellacorte (Justin Timberlake) and his large family estate. Of course, comedic antics ensue, and the audience watches Halsey work her way to her goal. In this particular instance, it works. Most of the scenes are actually pretty funny for what the movie is. That’s really what good comedies do though; make worthwhile movies out of offbeat premises.

The writing–or at least the written dialogue–is impressive, one of the main things that makes Bad Teacher worth sitting through. A lot of the funny moments in the movie are what’s actually said by the actors versus how the actors perform their lines. The exception to that is Lucy Punch. She delivers a good comedic performance with her hyper character, Amy Squirrel. The majority of the characters work because of their dialogue more so than their performances.
What really helps the film come off as likeable is the strength of its cast. The performances aren’t stellar, but seriously, Jason Segel in anything adds quality. At the same time though, Bad Teacher isn’t near the top of the actors’ filmography, especially Diaz and Segel. It’s sort of like putting star actors in bad movies; the movie will ride off the success of its actors.  This isn’t a bad movie, though, just an average one.

There are a couple cheap laughs thrown in Bad Teacher that could make one groan at their attempt, but the movie never overdoes it. The corny jokes are over with quickly, and the “R-rated humor” isn’t too over the top, even though it flirts with that line—a lot. Most of the film’s humor is worthwhile; there are many laughs to be had.

Bad Teacher doesn’t fail, it gets by. It just lacks a certain amount of quality that could make it loveable. This film is mildly quotable, and maybe even forgettable, but it’s all likeable.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars