The English Teacher (Blu-ray + DVD)

I won’t recap the plot as that has been done elsewhere but just add a couple of observations. First, Julianne Moore’s character quite literally pays for her mistakes way out of proportion to the other, equally flawed characters. She keeps her promise to pick up the over budget costs of the production which accumulate to over $4000 dollars coming out of her high school teacher’s salary, which she will soon lose when she is fired for not rewriting the ending of the play. Her equally culpable drama teacher colleague, played by Nathan Lane, allows her to take the full blame and social censure, while continuing to run up the bill she must pay. While he takes no responsibility for the financial or moral costs, he takes full credit for the play’s success, which she wound up directing and rewriting. He shared the spotlight only with the immature, former student playwright, who also resisted her entreaties to rewrite but then basked in the applause without acknowledging her. For a comedy, the film honestly showed the double standards women still face, although it’s protagonist made no effort to protest or question those standards. While the play was considerably improved by her rewrite of its’ original ending, and her life as well benefitted from the implied departure from society’s expectations for her, I do not think that wisdom extends to her invitation to her class to rewrite the classics. Sidney Carton’s sacrifice inspired because it stood for something, as did the spirited heroines of the classics she admired, such as Jane Eyre or Jo March. I would rewrite the ending of The English Teacher to have the teacher stand up for her rights and against her treatment. Again, I also think of the spunky heroines played by Katherine Hepburn or Barbara Stanwyck in the much more cinematically screwball comedies of classic Hollywood.

Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is a middle-aged high school English teacher who believes in love, longs for love, and has found love — in the pages of her favorite novels. In real life? Not so much. She’s always had her nose in a book, and her romantic sensibilities have kept her from meeting a nice guy. There are no heroes like the ones in novels, and she’s disappointed after meeting some random man on a date. So she projects her passion on to her students as she animatedly talks about Shakespeare and the Brontes. But then one of her former students (Michael Angarano) moves back home and turns her life around. He left NYU’s theatre school and is giving up his dream as a playwright, ready to give in to his father’s (Greg Kinnear) demands of going to law school. Linda is not having it. Jason wrote a gorgeous play, and she convinces her school officials to fund it for production. She’ll even cover any additional costs! That’s how much she believes in Jason’s talent! This brings chaos in her idyllic, quiet life, causing her to lose her squeaky-clean reputation, and possibly her job.THE ENGLISH TEACHER is a dark comedy that is both charming and romantic. Love Julianne Moore and Greg Kinnear and, while they’re hardly together in the film, it was a treat nevertheless. They have an Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Darcy type of love/hate acquaintance, and that’s what makes it so appealing. This also has an impressive cast. (Nathan Lane, Lily Collins, Jessica Hecht, just to name a few.) The character Jason is egotistical and immature, making him the least likable in the movie. You’d want to watch this from beginning to end. Downsides? Everyone is super hard on Linda. Yes, she made her fair share of mistakes, but the others behaved as though they were free of fault. The other characters are self-absorbed and obnoxious, but I know it’s done on purpose. I give THE ENGLISH TEACHER four out of five Vanilla Bean iced coffees!

I kind of forgot what slut shaming was and hadn't thought of it nor came across obvious evidence of it in so long. But this movie definitely showed evidence of it.. a whole lot.-----------I quite enjoyed the movie for the most part until (SPOILER) the English Teacher's and former student's altercation in the parking lot, itself. But my liking of the movie surely went way down hill after (SPOILER) a current student was shown recording the argument and everyone at the school saw it. Ugh. It went kind of cliched and the writers made anyone who could be a jerk into a real jerk.. From then on, the movie was difficult to get through. I watched most of it hoping that it would get better and (SPOILER) the teacher wouldn't go back to the school and wouldn't give a crap about the play, nor talk to anyone from work nor the former student again (because I wouldn't). But (SPOILER) she did...----Before the altercation in the parking lot, I hoped that different characters' flaws would be brought up and reflected on, including the English Teacher's. And people would learn something about themselves and their judgments, and reflected on how they treat and perceive other people, and etc. But I couldn't get through the teacher's distress from being continuously slut shamed, losing the job and life she loved, and then scorned into going back to work on a play that has nothing to do with her anymore at a school she no longer works at, that's filled with horrible people. I bet I didn't miss much else in this movie from there on out.. Besides her having a hard time and being blamed for everything, including things that weren't her responsibility, like making sure someone read a contract that's laying right in front of them before they signed it.----I just wonder how the movie would have went if the whole school didn't find out about those two sleeping together. I think it could have been a lot better. Maybe the writers thought it needed more distress????It also could have been better if the English Teacher had stood her ground more and recognized that she shouldn't have received such treatment from other people, and didn't let so many people treat her so harshly and blame her for everything (even after she was fired!!). I think it was leading up to that way UNTIL she was scorned into agreeing to work on the play again.-------------------I didn't finish the movie. I should have skipped it and picked something that didn't feature so much harassment. If only I knew...-------------------Sorry, not a well written review.

Ok

Not exactly and original story but well acted with comic moments. Bought as a gift.

Not a very exciting film it didn't really hold my interest I found it a little empty and rather unlikely.

A very watchable good movie.

brill