Synopsis:
On the last day of the year, mild-mannered high school English teacher Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) is trying his best to keep it together amidst senior pranks, a dysfunctional administration and budget cuts that put jobs on the line. But things go from bad to worse when he accidentally crosses his much tougher and genuinely feared colleague, Ron Strickland (Ice Cube), who challenges Campbell to an old-fashioned throw down after school. News of the fight spreads like wildfire and ends up becoming the very thing this school, and Campbell needed.
- New Line Cinema with Village Roadshow Pictures
Film Review:
The film is set to document the worst day ever. It starts off with Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) going on his daily journey to school where he teaches. At the beginning of the movie, it’s clearly established that Andy is not the tough guy type. He gets mocked, bullied and embarrassed by his students on his way to work. It seems that this goes on quite on a regular basis throughout the day. However, unlike any other today was probably the worst day for him and every other teacher - last day of school.
***Spoiler Alert***
Everyone knows that the last day of school is the day of epic pranking.
All the teachers including the administrators and coach get pranked the entire day! To make matters worse for Andy, he gets into a fist fight invitation by one of the scariest teachers in school, Strickland ( Ice Cube). They initially got into an argument after a student named Neil (Austin Zajur) pranked them both, it became messy when Strickland who probably has anger issues, furiously stroke the student’s chair with an axe.
Both teachers were called and threatened of getting laid off unless someone tells the truth. Andy, of course, being the weak one snitched his colleague Strickland. Not liking what Andy did, Strickland wanted a fist fight to teach Andy and the students a lesson about consequences.
Of all the days Andy got into a real fight, it was also the day when his daughter needed him the most. Ally ( Alexa Nissenson ) played Andy’s daughter who has a talent competition on the same day. And he has been thinking about it all day and was trying his best not to miss it despite him almost losing his job, bribing students, buying drugs, jailed and getting into a fight.
It’s a messy, chaotic day for Andy. However, he finally found his courage and stood up for himself for the fist time. He showed up in time for his daughter’s talent competition where they perform a very interesting number. And then he finally decided that he would fight his colleague at the parking. He may not have won, but he put up a good fight and gained a new friend. In the end, his wife who was also pregnant was in labour when Andy was knocked out. Strickland helped him get to the hospital, and that’s how his worst day ended- not so bad after all.
The story seemed interesting enough to watch with a promising plot. But then it takes a turn to over packing crude jokes and depended solely on comic reliefs that were not effective -making the film lame and boring to watch.
In general, the film did not seem very entertaining and funny at all. Some scenes didn’t make sense- somewhat unnecessary. Like when Andy’s other colleague Miss Monet ( Christina Hendricks ) kept popping in and out of the movie as a sexy character distraction but did not fit in well. As well as her odd portrayal of a Psychopath did not seem believable. Holly ( Jillian Bell) was unpredictable with her character as the supporting actress to Andy. She was funny at times but was trying too hard on some of the scenes. It came across as a little cringy on some of her scenes. The script didn’t have much impact as a supposedly funny film.
The movie is clearly not a smart comedy and will not make you laugh your hearts out. There may be very few memorable scenes and certainly not an enjoyable film to watch. As well as enough off-color humour and profanity but does not guarantee even a chuckle. There is a lack of wit, timing and proper execution that made the jokes a bit stale.
NZ Release Date: Feb. 25, 2017