BAD TEACHER
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy
Punch,
John Michael Higgins & Jason Segel
John Michael Higgins & Jason Segel
Directed by Jake Kasdan for distribution by Columbia
(Sony)
The Plot: A teacher with
no morals and even less tact (Diaz) is motivated to change her ways when she’s
tipped off to a contest in which she could be rewarded if her students show the
most improvement across their state.
The Final Word: Columbia found
itself with a surprise hit when “Bad Santa” came down the box office chimney in
2003 and now they’re hoping for the same result. In “Teacher,” Cameron Diaz
channels her old-school “There’s Something About Mary” roots for this raunchy summer
comedy that sports the tagline “she doesn’t give a F.” Although, Diaz is also
hoping to channel “Mary’s” box office results, which have always come easy. While
she’s had recent success with “The Green Hornet” and the “Shrek” franchise,
those don’t completely erase such movies as “The Box,” “What Happens In Vegas”
and of course last summer’s “Knight & Day.”
Meanwhile Justin Timberlake is also trying to build a film career as
well and if you take “The Social Network” out of the equation, his hit to miss
ratio isn’t much stronger. By the way,
let’s not forget these two used to date!
CARS 2
Starring (voices): Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy,
Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson,
Thomas Kretschmann, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Paul Dooley, John
Ratzenberger, John Turturro, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Bruce Campbell,
Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Lewis Hamilton & David Hobbs
Directed by John Lasseter & Brad Lewis for
distribution by Disney/Pixar
The Plot: Lightning McQueen
(Wilson) and his best friend Mater (Larry
The Cable Guy), set out
to take part in the World Grand Prix, a three race, two continent showdown, but
ultimately are detoured after Mater stumbles into an international espionage
incident.
The Final Word: Honestly, it
isn’t hard to imagine Larry The Cable Guy accidentally getting involved in a
some kind of international incident on his own, so it shouldn’t be too difficult
to imagine how his good-natured animated character winds up in one as well. Regardless,
this will be just what you’d normally expect from a Pixar film. The difference
with “Cars” is that is probably the most kid-targeted of all the studio’s
franchises, which means adults may not have the same emotional attachment they
had to the “Toy Story” trilogy or even to “Up,” the most recent non-sequel from
the studio. Then again, this is Pixar and you can never count them out.
Previewed next week: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "Monte Carlo" & "Larry Crowne"
