FILM REVIEW: BAD TEACHER

Sony Pictures

Now Showing

If you've seen the trailer for Bad Teacher and liked what you saw, then odds are you'll probably enjoy the film overall. Those odds might roughly be 60-40 but then I'm no psychic. And Cameron Diaz's Ms Halsey is no Maths teacher; Algebra is not her strong suit. Nor is English Lit, Geography or manners, come to think of it.

Elizabeth Halsey is the kind of person who chose teaching as a career because it offered summers off; the kind of educator who'd rather pop on a DVD about an inspirational teacher rather than even think about attempting to be one herself to her junior high class.

Unfortunately for them, Elizabeth's rich fiance dumped her over the summer break and so she returns to the classroom, even less motivated than before. For teaching that is. She's very much on the look out for a rich suitor, one who will either marry her or just pony up the dough for a boob job. And she thinks she may have found him with the arrival of substitute teacher, Mr Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), whose not unattractive and hails from a wealthy family.

But there's a spanner in the works, or, to be more precise, a squirrel. Ms. Squirrel (Lucy Punch), is everything Ms Halsey is not: an attentive, dedicated teacher, and dating Mr Delacorte. She's also highly strung and is driven to distraction by her fellow teachers' inability to see how half-arsed Elizabeth's approach to education is, making it her mission to expose the bad teacher.

But Elizabeth's attitude changes when she learns of a $5700 bonus for the teacher whose class scores the highest in the State exams; even more so when she concocts a plan to get her hands on a copy of the exam paper.

Watching the blonde one-time starlet of Charlie's Angels and so many rom-coms, hung over and taking hits from the bong every chance she gets, may not sit well with those who have come to love ditzy Cameron Diaz, but give me mean, foul mouthed - and, sure, casually racist - Cameron over the ditz any day. Diaz has always had the comedic chops but it's been a while since she's had this juicy a role to sink them into.

But as good as she is, Diaz is upstaged at every turn by Brit actress Punch, who isn't afraid to look silly - or scabby - to get a laugh. And both women fare better than Timberlake, in an SNL sketch-like role stretched too thin, and Jason Segel, who turns in another of his affable sap performances as the gym teacher with the hots for Ms Halsey.

As a chicks-gone-wild comedy, Bad Teacher doesn't get anywhere near the riotous success of Bridesmaids, in terms of laughs, smut or heart; Ms Halsey is no more believable or sympathetic for all her character flaws and vices. But in a movie world where sisters are doing it for themselves and can do anything the boys can, however gross-out, Bad Teacher scores a pass mark.

DVD REVIEW: KABOOM

Hopscotch Films

Available now to rent or own on DVD

If you want silly, sexy and - sure - fun, then the latest by Gregg Araki, one-time enfant terrbile of American indie cinema, certainly fits the bill. With the sexual shenanigans of its main character, Smith (Thomas Dekker), and all the mysterious cult and supernatural goings-on on campus, Kaboom plays like Dante's Cove: The College Years.

When he's not secretly lusting after his blonde, straight surfer roommate, Thor (Chris Zylka), Smith is hooking up with guys at the local nude beach or hooking up with girls at frat parties. It's when on the way home from one such event that Smith encounters a distressed young woman who just happens to have been appearing in his recent weirdly vivid dreams.

Smith thinks he may have witnessed her murder (he's not sure since he was drunk and tripping at the time) but there's no evidence. Best friend Stella (Haley Bennett) doesn't offer much help but then she is preoccupied with her new girlfriend who's a bit of a witch - literally - and even more so when Stella decides to call it quits. Hell hath no fury like a wicken scorned.

More sympathetic to Smith's increasing paranoia is London (Juno Temple), whom he meets at a party and soon becomes her beck and call boy; London making Smith her personal de-stresser (no points for guessing how). They discover that Smith's impending 21st birthday and the life of his long-forgotten father have something to do with his weird dreams, the murdered woman and the appearance of animal-masked men on campus. And it may also involve the fate of the world.

Having made the mature Mysterious Skin (2004), arguably his best film, Araki seems to have reverted to his early filmmaking ways - queer, kinky and often amateurish - with Kaboom. Then again, he made Smiley Face in 2007, a stoner comedy starring Anna Faris, so it was a gradual step backwards for the 51-year-old director.

Kaboom is all very silly but fun enough if you go along with its 86-minute ride on the college-boy-goes-wild side. Forget doom and gloom, it's the end of the world and Araki's going out with a (gang) bang.

FILM REVIEW: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2

Warner Bros.

Now Showing

All good things must come to an end, and good things come to those who wait. And for most people who have waited the almost 10 years for the final film in the adaptations of author J.K. Rowling's saga of the boy wizard - the boy who lived, Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows Part 2 will affirm those opening sentiments, however bitter sweet.

Yet we've always known this day was coming and, for those of us who read the seven books (7 not 8, Warner Bros!), we knew how it all would end, provided, of course, director David Yates (at the helm since HP#5, The Order of the Phoenix) and screenwriter Steve Kloves (who penned all but the Phoenix script) didn't practice some black magic of their own.

There's little here to raise the hackles of hardcore Potter fans, and some minor surprises for those who aren't; overall The Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a fitting farewell to a pop culture phenomenon, going out on a high if falling shy of greatness. But for all its deference to Potter lore, Rowling (also a producer) and her readers, there's more cinematic art on display - production design, score and special FX are as ace as ever - than actual heart.

Granted there's some important business/action to take care of first. Picking up almost exactly where the overlong and padded-out Part 1 ended, Part 2 sees our eponymous bespectacled hero (Daniel Radcliffe) and his BFF's, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), in search of the remaining Horcruxes, those enchanted objects housing remnants of Lord Voldermort's soul. It's a search that involves breaking in to Gringott's Bank (before escaping on the back of a dragon) and returning to Hogwarts for the final showdown between good and evil.

The School of Wizardry and Witchcraft has much changed since we first entered its hallowed halls in 2001's The Philosopher's Stone. With the death of beloved headmaster, Albus Dumbeldore (Michael Gambon, finally growing into the role originated by the late Richard Harris), at the climax of HP#6, The Half Blood Prince, Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) has assumed control of the school; no doubt the reason the mood in the Great Hall is as dank as his hair.

Rickman has been one of the shining lights of the many veteran British thesps (Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Jim Broadbent to name just three) who have graced the Potter world, and in a brief but explanatory flashback sequence, we learn the true nature of the snarling, one-time Potions teacher which will come as a great surprise to those who haven't cracked a copy of Rowling's final tome.

But it's Voldermort whom Harry has returned to school for, rallying his professors and fellow students to take up wands against the approaching dark forces and buying he, Ron and Hermione time in their search for the Horcruxes.

Of course, finding them won't prevent duelling wands at midnight, and we wouldn't have it any other way: the ultimate face-off between the Boy Who Lived and He Who Can't Be Named is what we've been anticipating these past 10 years. And Ralph Fiennes, having arrived with Voldermort's resurrection in HP#4, The Goblet of Fire, finally gets to cut loose as the Dark Lord.

As someone who has spent countless hours in the Harry Potter universe, on paper and celluloid, all of these events are rendered faithfully, and excitingly, enough. But ultimately I wanted to feel something; if not catharsis then a genuine loss at akin to a good friend's leave taking. But I didn't experience any great emotions during The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (though I was heartened by the heroic completion of Neville Longbottom's story arc) and I minded that, I really did.

Perhaps this is partly due to my growing disconnect with the films. For me, the Potter series peaked with The Goblet of Fire (also my favourite of the books), when Voldemort is successfully restored to life and people start to die. Unlike some, I enjoyed the dark turn J.K. Rowling's saga took from there, but strangely I've felt somewhat detached from Yates' corresponding films.

That's not to take anything away from the overall consistency of quality across all eight films which has seen Harry Potter become the most successful franchise in film history. $6.3 billion internationally after 7.1 and as I write this, 7.2 has broken the Australian box office record for an opening day, grossing some $7 million; no doubt boosted by being screened in 3D (the only real blight on the series), which will add to the coffers but does nothing for the viewing experience (see it in 2D if you can).

The film's epilogue doesn't help either, ending the film, as it does the book, on a bum note. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read the last of J.K. Rowling's books by revealing what happens, suffice it to say what barely worked in print doesn't work at all on film. It's just another reason why The Deathly Hallows Part 2 misses out on greatness, but it's a goodbye that's good enough.

DVD REVIEW: THE HOUSEMAID

Madman Entertainment

Available on DVD and Blu-ray July 20

A remake of the 1960 original, which New York Times critic A.O. Scott describes as kinkier than this outing, makes me think that 60's Korean cinema was no less bold and outrageous than it is today.

Not that director Im Sang-soo has skimped on the sex; there's plenty of that early on between Eun-yi (Do-yeon Jeon), newly hired housemaid and child minder, and her wealthy employer, Hoon (Jung-jae Lee), a well groomed businessman with a penchant for red wine and piano.

It's hardly the first time Hoon has cheated on his wife, Hae-ra (Seo Woo), who's heavily pregnant with twins, nor does Eun-yi rebuff his advances, but when Hoon terminates their midnight assignations (though not her employment) with a cheque, Eun-yi takes it with good grace.

But when Hoon's mother-in-law learns from the Machivellian housekeeper, Mrs Cho (Youn Yuh-jung), that Eun-yi has fallen pregnant to her son-in-law (before Eun-yi herself knows she's with child), it sets in motion a chain of events which sees the mousy housemaid transform to avenging angel.

Im Sang-soo's The Housemaid is, for the most part, a melodrama of the highest order with the action very much centred on the women; you could imagine a slightly younger Pedro Almodovar having fun with similar material. But I think the Spanish auteur would have held back, or even refrained from the bat-shit-crazy ending(s) which Sang-soo has gone for.

Never having seen the 1960 original, I can't say whether Sang-soo is being faithful to his predecessor or making his own mark with this ending but until that point, he had me intrigued as to how this handsomely shot, pitch perfect women's picture would play out.