Movie reviewer Hugh Verheylewegen continues to give us ideas about what to watch while we’re staying at home, check out his review of HBO’s Bad Education.
Directed by Corey Finley (Thoroughbreds), Bad Education follows the true story of a Long Island school superintendent, Frank Tassone, and his assistant, who are credited with bringing the district unprecedented prestige when a student reporter uncovers an embezzlement scheme of epic proportions that they attempted to cover up.
This was certainly a very interesting film to come out considering it wasn’t long ago that we had a big education scandal. Another thing that made this film more interesting to me is that the screenplay was done by Mike Makowsky, who was apparently one of the students at the school where these events transpired, so this is almost a first hand account of what happened. And it is because of that, along with a powerful cast, we get a realistic and very engaging drama.
(Minor spoilers below, but only if you didn’t already know who the bad guy is in this story.)
Bad Education is fantastic on so many levels, having great direction, a smart and realistic narrative, and powerhouse performances. Hugh Jackman as Frank Tassone is phenomenal. Similar to his role in Prisoners, he completely disappeared in this role as the beloved superintendent of this school. He has such an influence in this school and the community, and because of that many people look up to him. He remembers every student’s name (even names of students who have long since left the school) and he actively engages with every student to help them succeed in their studies.
He is honestly what you could imagine as the perfect school superintendent anyone could ask for, which makes it all the more shocking when you discover what he has been doing in secret, along with some other members of staff. His way with words has more power than any weapon, and his intelligence and behaviors make him an absolute sociopath. Hugh Jackman sells this performance flawlessly proving that even after his time with adamantium claws, he still has a lot more to give.
The other cast member that impressed me a lot was Allison Janney, who works very well on her own but also shares great chemistry with Hugh Jackman. I can definitely see these two getting potential nominations for their performances.
The rest of the cast was excellent but one big surprise among them was Ray Romano. He was in The Irishman and now this, and I couldn’t be happier to see him have a nice comeback after years of being attached to the Ice Age films. He was solid in this and he deserves a lot more roles.
The nice thing about the narrative is how unpredictable things are, and some of the fun and shocking twists it has to offer. You feel engaged with every moment and I never found myself bored by anything that was going on. Every detail that is shown in every shot has meaning and always leads up to something in this movie that is important to remember.
We as the audience experience and discover things through the young school reporter (played excellently by Geraldine Viswanathan) but things don’t get overly exposited as we are allowed to learn things on our own. And it is so interesting to see how the community that looks up to Frank as an icon are so willing to come to his defense when accusations are brought up. Really shows what corruption can accomplish when handled by someone so smart.
There is also the interesting use of the structure of the school and Frank’s daily routines as symbolic themes in the film. It’s really clever and adds such great detail to the story.
As far as issues go I would say there is just one thing, which is the first few minutes of the film where it’s hard to know what kind of film we are watching. It focuses mostly on setting up our characters, which isn’t a bad thing since it does accomplish its goal in hitting us hard when things kick into gear and secrets are uncovered. But during that process it doesn’t establish a proper tone until after those few minutes are over. I can see others having an issue with this too, but I can excuse it just because everything else that follows is absolutely fantastic.
The realistic nature makes this movie a real stand out, and I honestly hope that Hugh Jackman gets some kind of nomination out of this. I’m going to give Bad Education an A.
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