The Bad Education Movie Review - IGN (original) (raw)

The Bad Education Movie kicks off in Holland with a class full of unruly kids visiting Anne Frank’s house. Drugs are taken, Hasidic Jews are offended, the kids queue-jump by pretending one of their number is more disabled than he actually is, and then something happens with Frank herself – kind of – that triggers a chase through the streets of Amsterdam. If that isn’t to your comedic tastes, you may as well tap out of this one now, as it only gets less politically correct from there.The film is a spin-off from BBC Three series Bad Education, which ran for three seasons, was intermittently funny, and revolved around Alfie Wickers, a secondary school teacher who is even more immature than the children he teaches. And that’s about it in terms of set-up, meaning that newcomers shouldn’t have trouble finding their feet.

Wickers is played by Jack Whitehall, and your enjoyment of the show, and now the movie, probably depends on your opinion of the comedian-turned-actor. But if you appreciate his brand of humour – which often combines class satire with dick jokes – there’s lots to like in the film.

It does however play by the British sitcom spin-off rules – most recently put to good use in The Inbetweeners 2 – by packing the cast off on holiday to both take them out of their comfort zone and put some of that extra budget to good use.

So when a post-exam trip to Las Vegas falls through, Alfie instead takes the kids to Cornwall for what he hopes will be a monumental pub crawl, followed by the house parties to end all house parties at one of his former class-mate’s country pile.

But due to a hamster-related incident that would make Richard Gere wince, the parents lose all trust in Alfie, and so a particularly square, strict and over-protective mother joins the trip to keep an eye on their beloved.

Alfie Wickers in action.

The first half of the movie is then pretty predictable, with Wickers trying, and failing, to get his pupils out on the lash, the militant mum thwarting his efforts at every turn. There’s an eye-opening sequence at The Eden Project that provides viewers with the first of many glimpses at Whitehall’s genitalia, and an amusing bit of business involving an ancient foreskin. But it’s all a little low-brow and uninspired.

The second half of the movie is much more interesting however, involving as it does terrorism, a sword-fight and something approaching civil war. Game of Thrones star Iain Glen is on scene-stealing form as a salty sea dog who believes a little too passionately in Cornish independence, and his character’s plans turn what was a by-the-numbers sitcom movie into something a bit more unexpected and ambitious.

There are missteps along the way. The bullying Alfie receives at the hands of his posh ‘mates’ endeavours to give his character a bit of depth while at the same time having a dig at the likes of The Bullingdon Club, but prove to be the film’s weakest scenes. Flamboyant pupil Stephen is humourless and something of a pain. And much like the TV series, Matthew Horne’s turn as headmaster Fraser is painful to watch. And not in the way he’s intending.

But it’s funny - oftentimes laugh-out-loud funny - with toilet humour playing its part, but rubbing shoulders with clever word-play, some good slapstick, homages to E.T. and The Wicker Man, a spot of social satire, and dick jokes. Lots of dick jokes.

Verdict

If you didn’t like the Bad Education TV show, you won’t enjoy the movie. And even those that did like series might tire at the mid-way point of this feature. But stick with it as Whitehall and co-writer Freddy Syborn make some unexpected narrative choices, director Elliot Hegarty directs in a style that transcends the show’s small-screen roots, and ultimately there are enough good jokes to make the feature a worthwhile endeavour.

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The Bad Education Movie Review

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Basically, better than it looks.