Film Review: The Green Hornet

On paper this film shouldn't fail. It's got Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Edward James Olmos and Christoph Waltz. Indeed, the very name Seth Rogen would ordinarily create a buzz of excitement. Unfortunately while The Green Hornet isn't an abject failure, it is however a disappointment and an example of spurned talent.

Britt Reid (Rogen) is your quintessential example of directionless youth. When his stern father (Wilkinson) suffers an unexpected death, the bored billionaire playboy teams up with servant Kato (Chou) - also a gadget maker extraordinaire and martial artist expert - to take on crime using the unique guise of pretending to be criminals themselves.

Interestingly while sharing many similarities to the background of one Bruce Wayne, the Green Hornet actually predates Batman. It even had its own TV show in the sixties featuring Van Williams as the Hornet and one Bruce Lee as Kato. While Rogen doesn't quite drag this into the same farcical realms of his other works (Pineapple Express, Superbad), his role as a screenwriter can definitely be detected as he injects his effusive humour on proceedings. Ostensibly, the teaming of Rogen and director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) would constitute some sort of a dream team. Unfortunately Gondry's attempts to influence events doesn't quite sit in the action genre where the story feels a little higgledy-piggledy. Indeed, there's a lot going on in The Green Hornet, maybe too much. While it is energetic, the numerous different genres of comic book, buddy-up, action, romance etc just seem a little all over the place, none of which fully hold the audience's attention.

Rogen's Britt Reid is a bit like Bruce Wayne would be if he were to act like Russell Brand's Arthur. He barely displays any redeeming features and doesn't really grow all that much as a character. He is selfish to the point where even his motivations to fight crime come from alcohol-infused boredom, atypical to the sort of alturism or even vengeful dispositions of your typical comic book hero. On the one hand it's what makes The Green Hornet different, yet it still doesn't make the character particularly likeable. This is where his sidekick Kato steals the show with an aura of quiet confidence. The Taiwanese popstar, Chou, is probably the most appealing part of this film - a proverbial swiss army knife with unrivalled mechanical and martial arts skill. You wonder what the hell he's been doing serving as one of Reid's servants. However, despite his appeal Chou is scarcely intelligible to the point where subtitles might have been helpful. Unfortunately many parts with potential, such as Christoph Waltz's villain Chudnofsky, are relegated to a curiosity. His gimmick is that despite being the baddest mutha in all LA, no one finds him scary. So affected is he by this that the otherwise ruthless villain experiences a midlife crisis and embarks on a quest to reinvent himself in order to gain the respect he feels he deserves. While the idea could have worked the part is poorly written, much like Cameron Diaz's secretary Lenore Case and Olmos' Chief Editor Mike Axford at Britt's paper, The Daily Sentinel.

Overall The Green Hornet isn't 'that bad', but it doesn't glue together very well either. While reasonably endearing, it is also flawed in the sense that is feels a tad overdrawn and represents a bit of a wasted opportunity as some big talent feels completely underwritten. It's lengthy and convoluted screenplay unfortunately serves to erase the good work it does in other places. If only The Green Hornet chopped a few needless moments here, a few there, and honed its focus, it could have had much more sting. As it stands there are a lot of good points interspersed throughout which save this from pure direness thus it would be unfair to call The Green Hornet a complete disaster.

Film Review: Bad Teacher

We've all had them, terrible teachers who scarcely inspire their class to learn. Bad Teacher takes this concept and turns it on its head. Rather than having a teacher who is merely incompetent, Diaz's Bad Teacher just plain doesn't give a fuck. It's actually a wonder what you have to do in the US to become an 'educator'...

Dumped by her rich fiance, lazy, vain, gold-digging teacher Elizabeth Halsey (Diaz) is forced to shelve plans for early retirement and return to the school she thought she quit for good. Upon her return, wealthy, but naive new teacher Scott Delacorte (Timberlake) reignites Elizabeth's hopes of finding a sugar daddy. However, Scott spurns Elizabeth's advances in favour for the school's model teacher, Amy Squirrel (Punch). The inevitable clash of good against bad ensues.

Bad Teacher is hardly the most imaginative comedy given the material, but its reprehensible humour and tongue-in-cheek misogynism remain an enjoyable affair. Diaz's Elizabeth will stop at nothing to ensnare Scott, deciding the best way to do so is with a boob job. Elizabeth's caustic brand of guiltless hedonism burns through the sickly pleasantries of the staff room as she goes about raising money for the operation via any means necessary. Elizabeth is not above embezzling funds from a school carwash and stealing exam papers in a bid to get the best results in the state and thus a cash prize. Lust plays second fiddle to her avarice as what makes this all the more enjoyable and refreshing is that the script hasn't bothered to endow Diaz's character with any redeeming features. Indeed, Diaz's portrayal of a mischievous, materialistic and wholly nihilistic bitch actually becomes endearing. Where our opening introduction to Elizabeth generates an immediate dislike for the character, she slowly evolves and twists as the audience begins to warm to her.

This is in contrast to Timberlake and Punch's sickly duo, who start out as a bit drippy, a bit dorky, but ultimately inoffensive. However, they soon get incredibly annoying, despite having done nothing inherently wrong. Timberlake's Scott is a hipster prat with no opinion of his own, doing his best to mould into whatever shape the social setting requires of him. By the end of the film he comes across as an insufferable prick. Likewise, Punch transforms into a conniving bitch, and while it is clear to see that it is Elizabeth's actions which have driven her to madness, you can't help but enjoy watching Diaz burn her time and again. Punch is however the most colourful foil to Diaz, partly because she's the most driven and obsessive when compared to the other characters. Segel's Russell Gettis, while resigned mostly to the background, is also excellent as a down-to-earth gym teacher who observes the idiots that inhabit the world with quiet amusement. While he understands Elizabeth's game, he still wants to date her anyway. It's actually a bit of a shame at how underused Segel is and you just wish his pleasantly laid-back character was on screen more.

Perhaps Bad Teacher's biggest problem is that it doesn't really know where it wants to go. Diaz's character is "too bad" to be allowed to claim total victory in her selfish quest, and yet she doesn't exactly get dealt the justice for her abhorrent behaviour either. Instead, Elizabeth is left somewhere in limbo. While there are small signs that she might be willing to reconsider her values, ultimately the overbearing impression is that the unrepentant anti-hero got away without comeuppance. Likewise, as a character Elizabeth isn't all that fleshed out. For example, there is no explanation as to how or why this selfish little money grabber got into teaching anyway. Indeed, it is a strange career path for a person with such motivations. Also, minus Punch, there is a criticism to be made that the rest of the supporting cast at times appear a little inconsequential. They have tendencies to appear, do what is required of them, then evaporate into a whispy mist until needed again.

Despite the negatives, Bad Teacher certainly doesn't deserve an F. Diaz herself is the best thing about the film and she alone deserves at least a B. Ultimately this is rude, crude, but thoroughly good fun throughout.