Bad Education: Film Review

Bad Education: Film Review

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Alison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan
Director: Cory Finley

Inspired by true events, Bad Education's success lies greatly on the work done by Hugh Jackman as a US school superintendent who's also a fixer.

Jackman is Frank Tassone, the head of Long Island school in Roslyn New York in 2002, who spends his days charming the staff, using his charisma to appear a sympathetic ear to the unhappy parents and generally looking a million dollars in a series of slick suits and perfectly coiffed hair.

When a school paper student (Blockers' breakout Viswanathan) asks him for a brief interview about an upcoming proposal which would help Roslyn school into the upper echelons of the district, a chain of events is set in place which would ultimately horrify the region.

Bad Education, with its polished house veneers and exteriors of estates as cutaways, delivers a class divide story initially that turns ultimately into a "how did they think they could get away with this" tale, that's pivoted by a darker turn from Jackman than is usual.

But some credit also needs to go to Alison Janney's deputy administrator Pam whose scorn for everyone and the system is evident early on. It's another searing turn from Janney, who's building a back catalogue of disgust and contempt following her turn in I,Tonya.

But Bad Education belongs to Jackman - initially charming before turning into something that's more unsettling.

Dismissing claims of a puff piece while exhorting the school paper to dig deeper, Tassone's superiority comes to the fore, and Jackman's underplaying of various moments adds to the drama's more understated feel.

As Bad Education plays out, it becomes a snowballing of events, rather than a landslide of revelations thanks to a concise script, and Jackman rises to each and every challenge, delivering each with skill.

Bad Education plays on Neon from May 3