Julianne Moore can't save The English Teacher: review
The English Teacher fails as a comedy, but stars Julianne Moore, Lily Collins and Greg Kinnear do their best to elevate the predictable high-school farce.
By Linda BarnardSpecial to the Star
Thu., May 30, 2013timer2 min. read
The English Teacher
Starring Julianne Moore, Michael Angarano, Nathan Lane, Lily Collins and Greg Kinnear. Directed by Craig Zisk. 93 minutes. Opens May 31 at Cineplex Yonge & Dundas and Empire Square One. PG
The report card for low-key high school comedy The English Teacher would read something like this: Weak effort; this student is too easily distracted, fails to follow through and turns in unfinished work.
First-time feature film director Craig Zisk (TV's Parks and Recreation, The United States of Tara) teams with fellow neophyte screenwriters Dan Chariton and Stacy Chariton on a tale of a repressed 40-something high school English teacher (Julianne Moore) who falls for a former student-turned-playwright, getting all Blanche DuBois in the process.
As the Jane Austen-inspired English voice-over explains, occasionally lonely small-town teacher Linda Sinclair (Moore) doesn't mind spending her evenings with microwave meals for one. She's occasionally willing to try online dating, rating her loser matches with red pencil comments like she's grading students' papers.
But her real calling is her classroom and her passion is for literature.
A meet-cute setup puts Linda together with a former student Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano of TV's Will & Grace, 24) who went to New York with a dream of being a big-shot playwright and has slunk home with shattered dreams and an unproduced script.
Linda reads his script and convinces the high-strung drama department head (Nathan Lane, overworking the stereotype into the ground) to mount Jason's play. Jason, who at age 26 isn't too old to be hot for teacher, returns the favour on a classroom desktop in a G-rated version of Moore's scene in Boogie Nights.
Petty jealousies and mixed messages give The English Teacher its farcical tone, where the cute and deliberately quirky moments go to the head of the class. Opportunities for satire or a leap into darker motivations with the material (think Alexander Payne's Election) are missed in this simple comedy that demands little of its cast — poor Greg Kinnear ends up playing an unfairly judged second banana yet again, and Angarano, who is supposed to be a high school hallway lothario, is about as sexy as a toaster.
The audience doesn't fare much better, getting cheapo lines and a ridiculously limp ending.
However, The English Teacher gets a passing grade because of the ever-wonderful Moore, who contributes quick comic timing — including some impressive pratfalls — and her usual charm. She's the only one who makes the grade.