Teacher of the Year

I have to tell you, this is not a "comedy", this is actually a very seriously crafted, scripted drama, like a true story, an in-your-face/up-close- and-personal documentary, recorded right on the site, at the school, at home, with candid camera works, faithfully caught all important moments of how those teachers dealt with the students and with themselves.

When you watched it, you just felt that you were right in front of the teacher the camera was shot at and recording, it felt like it's you who was holding the camera, following the teacher(s), into the classrooms.

The camera realistically exposed what the true colors of all the teachers, what they really were, what they were thinking. Some of the teachers in this film just gave you the impression that they really existed in all the public/charter/private schools. Some of them were self-centered, self-righteous, self- important, obnoxious, arrogant, moronic, evil, stubborn, or self- serving only to themselves. And unfortunately, some of the teachers were just helpless, frustrated, even hopeless and failing to get connected with their students. But some of the teachers indeed were very good, very decent and so passionate in teaching, loving and caring.

This movie really showed us how a teacher could be greater to the other ones, and some of them were just pricks, like the science teacher, the two brothers who did the poor college counseling, and the vice principal who kept issuing penalty tickets to students without any probable cause. And the principal in this film just looked so real, and we completely believe there were principals just like him in our education system, they are bureaucrats instead of educators, they are only self-centered and self-serving to their own careers.

This is an amazing movie that have caught my complete attention and focus during viewing and it also turned out to be such a great viewing experience; a rare one, by the way.

The Netflix rating for this movie is one out of five stars. It rates five out of five on Rotten Tomatoes, and 5.3 out of 10 here on IMDb. The fact that the reviews are all over the place almost surely reflects Americans' ambivalence about teachers and public schools (or charter schools that are publicly funded, like the one represented here). My husband and I, both longtime educators, thought that this mockumentary was the most authentic representation of our profession that we have seen. Teaching is tough. It's tough when your students do not respond to your efforts, and, yes, it is even tough when you are "Teacher of the Year."

Not that this is a humorless drama...not at all. It is hilarious because it captures how completely awkward and totally out of the box each day is when you work in this type of school. The teachers in this film display the full range of creativity, grit, anger, envy, compassion and depleted ego that comes with a high-intensity, socially essential job that is often completely disrespected and poorly remunerated.

Told in a semi-documentary fashion, this film centers around an English teacher by the name of "Mitch Carter" (Matt Letscher) who has been nominated for national recognition as "Teacher of the Year." Needless to say, this high honor has its advantages and disadvantages with some of the people at his high school seeking to share the spotlight with him while others feel somewhat envious. Most notably, the principal, "Ronald Douche" (Keegan-Michael Key) belongs to the first category whereas the instructor specializing in robotics by the name of "Steven Queeg" (Jamie Kaler) definitely belongs in the second group. To that effect, Mitch soon finds that he has a difficult decision to make due to the fact that, while he feels a certain sense of accomplishment in his current profession, the honor also comes with an opportunity to make much more money as a national spokesman for certain causes for which he has no real regard. Now rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay comedy for the most part which had some good scenes here and there with those involving the college counselors, "Lowell Hammer" (Jason Sklar) and his brother "Clive Hammer" (Randy Sklar) probably being the funniest in my opinion. I also thought that Keegan-Michael Key performed quite well too. On the other hand, I thought the drama involving one teacher named "Chris Conner" (Brian Campbell) was a bit too deep and cast a shadow over the comedy which wasn't all that appealing. Be that as it may, this film still managed to pass the time fairly well and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

OK, so what is this? This movie is part comedy, part drama. Horribly mixed together. Awfully inconsistent, the drama is cringe worthy, and very little of the comedy is actually funny.

I think I get what they are going for with the comedy, but it does not really work. They are trying that: "awkward, dorky, boring people taking things really seriously, not understanding that everyone thinks they are losers"-type humor. Ann there are a lot of scenes like that, but then, right the next moment things are supposed to be touching, and heart felt.

The scenes with Keegan-Michael Key are the most funny. He succeeds at what he's trying to do. Also the strange twin brothers, are almost good. But the rest are forgettable.

Matt Letcher, which is sort of the main character, is doing most of the drama, and it does not work. You can see that he is trying to act in a realistic manner, and it is just embarrassing on his behalf. I think the director is to blame, though.

Teacher of the year is supposed to be a quirky, heart warming comedy- drama, (at least I think it is) but fails at both. There's some good talent here, but it does not work.

I came for Keegan-Michael Key. I started the movie thinking it was going to be a silly and lighthearted comedy. However it had beautiful moments with some truly spectacular acting, particularly from Matt Letscher and the kids. Andy Richter and The Sklar Brothers were a wee bit annoying but the story and format more than make up for it. I almost want to rewatch this immediately but I'm going to look for similar movies for now. I'm very pedantic with what I watch, but this was honestly a surprisingly good one. It's very underrated. It has laughs for sure, but it also has heart. Is 8 years later too late to ask for a sequel?