The English Teacher

Julianne Moore gives a memorable performance as Linda Sinclair, a stodgily cool, attractively nerdy high school English teacher who finds herself in a compromising position with a talented former student whose play she's promoting to the school's administration and Thespians. While I loled once or twice, most of the consistent humor is of a drier, more satirical variety. This film does a nice job of compassionately satirizing a number of institutions and stereotypes, and this is one English teacher that really knows how to keep at least some of the class's attention without asking them to think too hard. Notwithstanding the mock Masterpiece Theater narrator, THE English TEACHER is quite light comedy in the end, without a lot of character depth or conflict development. Though it's pretty tame stuff and looks like it could be rather uneventful, plenty happens throughout its short (90-minute) length. Not to sound snooty, elitist, or anything else, but it seems that someone would need one and preferably both of the following in order to really enjoy THE English TEACHER: A) Some familiarity with the world of Secondary Education, its various workplace clichés ("Just take it down one level, please," etc), and sensitive legalities--admin's concern about the possibility of a lawsuit if they allow the students to put on a play that ends in bloody murder, etc. B) Some familiarity with (and interest in?) classic American and British literature. While the frequent allusions are nothing heavy, it helps to know a little about who Lord Byron was, the basic plot of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN, and so forth. I strongly recommend this film to anyone who falls under those categories, particularly those who teach English. Some current high school students (and parents) with relatively sedate tastes may also like it. Those outside these perimeters may be rather bored by THE English TEACHER. Nothing really wild happens beyond some implied sex, a lot of realistic profanity, and generally sensitive subject matter.

The romantic loner/spinster woman-lost-in-a-book-theme has been done before. I don't object to it being done again, but this clunker seemed unsure of what it wanted to say and do. It was clearly a comedy, but it tried unsuccessfully to shed some light on deeper themes. It starts with an awkward English female narrator, which I suppose is meant to represent the character's inner world of English literature.But more often than not, a narrator is just a cheap device to take the place of character development. Long story short, a repressed high school English teacher runs into her former student who wrote a play. He's 25 now and couldn't get his play produced. She gets the high school to put on his play. Flat, predictable hijinks ensue. The only thing that redeemed this piece of talentless trash was the familiar yet always pleasing Nathan Lane depiction of a lovable gay. Julianne Moore is probably past the 45 she is playing.Greg Kinnear delivers an adequate performance, but deserves much better material. Many of us think we are destined for some kind of artistic life of expression, when in reality we just need to get a job. The kid in this film was probably not destined to be a writer or a lawyer like his dad wanted him to be. The big question is how long to nurse your dream. I did not watch the last portion of this film. I can guess the outcome more or less, but I really don't care. If you're going to do a comedy, make it funny or at least cute.If it's a drama make it compelling. But this one was none of the above.

This film tells the story of an unmarried female teacher who is in trouble after an alumnus playwright goes back to her school for a school play. Julienne Moore often plays challenging characters, and this English teacher is no different. She faces loneliness, shame and embarrassment; yet deep down she is a good person who does teenagers much good. I sympathize with her experience, and I thought she did not deserve such bullying. I liked the ending a lot, although I thought the film could have done without the narration of the voice that tells her what to do and what not to do. The story is told in a comedic manner, hence I enjoyed watching it.

It's always pleasurable to see talent on the screen. Be that on the shape of a great screenplay, good acting, or a combination of both. "The English Teacher" offers both, and this might not make it a perfect film, but it's quite enjoyable, funny and heartbreaking, and relatively fresh. It doesn't resort to vulgarity to make us laugh, and it certainly reflects the times in an accurate way. It incorporates technology without forgetting the human side of the story, and it centers around a good story. Enters a lonely English teacher on her way to becoming a certified spinster. She tries to find a good man to date and marry, and the choices are scarce. Before she knows what hits her, she is involved with a former student of hers in an scandalous affair, yet this incident adds a touch of excitement to her life, maybe a little too much. Her world as she knows it, spins out of control, and her students, her high school faculty, and a few members of society are quick to crucify her. Still in the middle of this mess, we have some comic relief, as we discovers the thin line between drama and comedy. Tears and laughter coexist very well together, and with Lane in the middle of the crazy drama, we can assure a few good laughs will be there. So it's not like the classic comedies of the thirties,and sex may be at the center of the situation, but it's still not far from taking the social commentary stance seen in other films where society is quick to judge, and humans are still quite careless and irresponsible when rushing into emotional affairs. Moore is in a class by herself as the woman who holds back her personal passions, only to let herself fall quite hard when she misreads real life versus the experience she finds in the classics. Real life is not that easy to control. In the end, things do work out, but it's a hilarious ride from beginning to end, and it's quite a clever script, so enjoy it.