BAD EDUCATION : Official Reviews ( SPOILERS)

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Film - Bad Education



Next week's Empire Gala presentation at London Film Festival is Bad Education. Our incredibly well-educated Ren Zelen watched the film...

Director: Cory Finley
Writer: Mike Makowsky
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Annaleigh Ashford, Rafael Casal, Alex Wolff, Jimmy Tatro, Catherine Curtin, Ray Abruzzo, Jeremy Shamos

Bad Education, Corey Finley’s follow-up to his dark comedy/thriller Thoroughbreds, is another psychological examination of questionable morality, but this time based on the true story of the largest public-school finance scandal in history, in which administrators in the Roslyn school district were convicted of fraud and embezzlement.

Finley’s film opens as Superintendent Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) and his Assistant Superintendent Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney) are celebrating a successful year. Tassone has been so effective as administrator, schmoozing to improve his school, that local realtors dote upon him because people are wanting to move to the district, which in turn means the price of houses goes up.

Everyone appears to love and appreciate Tassone and Gluckin, whose work is praised by the school board president Bob (Ray Romano), and admired by parents and staff alike. The students at the school do well - substantial numbers of its seniors have gained places at Ivy League colleges.

Tassone has been successful in moving the school up in the national rankings and financial success has allowed them to break ground on an exciting new construction project called ‘Skywalk’. Tassone and the school board hope this might bring them top ranking.

Superintendent Tassone seems to have real devotion to his work - dutifully attending conferences, always ready to listen to the sometimes unrealistic demands of parents, and invariably offering encouraging and inspirational advice to students, each of whom he knows by name.

However, Bad Education is not a story about a model educator and an efficient school board. The film takes time to reveal what it is really about, but gradually there is a progression of events that culminate in a series of damming revelations.

When Rachel Kellog (Geraldine Viswanathan) a reporter for the high-school newspaper, is assigned to do a puff piece about the ‘Skywalk’ project, Tassone encourages her to write something more substantial – an exhortation he will learn to regret.

As Rachel delves deeper into the financial background to the ‘Skywalk’ build, she notices that while there seems to be money for this new construction, major problems in the basic fabric of the school’s facilities are left unaddressed. She then begins to uncover inconsistencies in the financial bookkeeping.

Just weeks before a scheduled vote to approve the district budget, it’s discovered that assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin has been embezzling from the schools’ coffers for years to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gluckin has been flagrant in flaunting an opulent lifestyle, acquiring beachfront properties and luxury goods.

When the scandal first comes to light, Tassone persuades his colleagues on the board to cover it up, rather than risk damage to the prestige of the school and the trust of the community.

They tell Gluckin that they won’t press charges, but instead they’ll quietly dismiss her and establish a pay-back scheme but cover up the whole sordid business so that confidence won’t be lost and the upcoming budget decision won’t be compromised.

However, the problem doesn’t go away. Rachel continues her investigation and finds that listed contractors turn out never to have worked for the school, or to be totally fictitious. Soon, Tassone’s own meticulously crafted secret life begins to unravel. No-one had even commented on the fact that even though he draws a teacher’s salary, Tassone is always conspicuously well-dressed, drives a very expensive car and travels first class.

When Rachel gets proof of fraud, she still ponders the ethics of publishing her story in the school paper, knowing that the fallout could damage the lives and careers of people who were kind to students and who worked to make the school better. Still, it took a curious high-school reporter to uncover inconsistencies that the adults on the school board had totally overlooked. Rachel’s story made the high school paper, then became national news.

As it happens, Bad Education is written by a former Roslyn student, Mike Makowsky, and it’s a credit to his excellent script and to Finley’s direction that the movie avoids making total villains out of Tassone and Gluckin. Instead, it suggests that they care about the school, the staff and the students, but also reveals how they convince themselves they are not doing anything wrong. The film indicates how such infractions can accumulate - a few dollars here and there at first, then, when nobody notices or asks questions, it turns into a lot more.

There are strong performances from the entire ensemble, but Allison Janney in her supporting role is again top-notch. Her Gluckin is efficient, likeable, and although outrageously extravagant in her lifestyle, she is also generous. She allows her entire family to benefit from her theft!

But the star of the film is Hugh Jackman, who in a varied career spanning twenty-five years manages to make Tassone sympathetic - a man who truly believes that he and his people are doing their best for the students, the parents and the school. He imbues his character with genuine concern, charm and geniality, grounding his decisions in credible emotions.

Most films indicate that corruption occurs amongst morally bankrupt people, but Bad Education does not present a picture that is so black and white. Instead we look at the morally grey areas that some people choose to inhabit. Even when presented with their crimes and their secrets, they’re merely mystifying in their incomprehension regarding their own wrongdoing, and yet somehow not entirely ignoble.


Review Copyright R.H. Zelen – ©RenZelen 2019 All rights reserved.

[jo]

LFF 2019 Review: Bad Education – “Dripping with righteous anger”

Posted by Sarah Louise Dean on Oct 1, 2019 in All, comedy, drama, Film, Headline, Reviews | 0 comments


The look on my face when I realise this is the only photo available for this film!

The sound of Greta Thunberg’s name is enough to make most cheer and some fume. As the poster child for the climate change movement, her clear voice acts as a necessary flea in the ear of the old order, shaming them into doing better.
There’s a touch of the Thunberg in Bad Education, Cory Finley’s follow-up to his successful indie debut Thoroughbreds. Bad Education is a dramatic, prestige project starring fine actors, including recent Oscar-winner Allison Janney and Hugh Jackman.

Bad Education tells a story that would drive Thunberg to distraction. It concerns corruption and collusion…albeit writ smaller, in an elite public (so, State) school system in the Long Island of the 1980s. Jackman plays Frank Tassone, the pristinely dressed and impeccably mannered school superintendent. Tassone’s job is to spend the money that comes in from the government, businesses and donees to ensure that the schools provide high-quality education (i.e. nice equipment and a chance for pupils to make a run at Harvard and Yale). In this arena Tassone wields real power, meticulously running the department, and in order to do so, he and assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin (Janney) have access to millions of dollars. When quietly tenacious journalism student Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan) starts digging into some spurious spending, Tassone’s reputation crumbles, revealing a very ugly truth.

Bad Education is simply a brutal dissection of a compromised system. Finley never allows for sentimentality – this is a study in the dangers of vanity. Tassone is such an unbecoming character from the first, that it’s clear why the always likeable Jackman wanted the role. Gluckin isn’t spared either, and Janney gets to play manipulative, selfish and greedy in the style of the Real Housewives. Many other actors subject themselves to being characters in Finley’s firing line, notably Annaleigh Ashford (currently brilliant in Netflix’s Unbelievable) as Gluckin’s dim niece and Rafael Casal as a former student of Tassone’s. To say more would diminish the effect of the twists in writer Mike Makowsky’s screenplay, all the more resonant as Makowsky lived through the events described. It’s a pity that the script’s vitriolic need to punish can never be satiated, even by complete character assassination.


Finley so stylishly marries his visuals (with angles of such fine craftsmanship it’s as if he used a spirit level) with a commentary on middle-American greed that the finished product feels a bit staccato. At no point is the audience permitted to like or identify with any of the players; they are either masquerading as ‘good’, or are out-and-out selfish narcissists quick to blame others. And yet Finley fills the film with a beguiling tension as the story enters through Tassone’s pristine veneer into his dark, secret heart. Without giving anything away, some of the treatment that Tassone receives could act as a mitigating factor for his actions, but Finley refuses to let his lead off the hook. Jackman is entirely believable as Tassone and produces a fine serious performance. This is not the showman, nor the gruff mutant, but something new: a fickle paper-thin person building his life on a precarious house-of-cards.

Bad Education takes an ice-cold, judgmental approach to a true story and is an apt showcase for Finley’s perfect staging. It is a shame that it prioritises visual clarity at the expense of character study. But then, perhaps in these times, an unflinching eye is what’s needed, instead of helplessly watching people abuse children’s futures, Finley’s film is dripping with righteous anger. Thunberg would approve.

Check out all of our London Film Festival coverage

[jo]

This review is ( practically) mostly about Hugh!

01 Oct 2019

Bad Education review – Hugh Jackman delivers his best performance yet


Cory Finley's sophomore feature is a relentlessly sharp and funny take on a true school embezzlement scandal
When you think of Hugh Jackman, it’s hard not to picture him as a singing, dancing, performing machine. Perfect smile. Pristine sheen. Less actor, more showman. Well, look: Bad Education arrives, just as we might have written him off, to remind us that Jackman is, above all, an excellent and versatile actor. It’s a film in which showmanship still plays a crucial part in the story, though the showman we get here is far from the greatest; beneath the immaculate surface, this one’s a liar, a fraud, and a criminal.

Cory Finey made a big impression with his debut feature, Thoroughbreds, a strange little film with a big nasty streak and a unique, unpredictable edge. His follow-up, based on a real life embezzlement scandal that rocked Long Island’s Roslyn High School in 2004 after it emerged that staff members had stolen more than $8 million from the public school fund, might not be spun from his own script (this one was written by Mike Makowsky, a former student at the aforementioned school), but it’s a step-up from Thoroughbreds in every sense – a filmmaker hitting their stride.


Jackman stars as the real life Dr. Frank Tassone, a beloved and highly-regarded superintendent whose dedication to his school has won him affection from his peers and parents alike. He’s impeccably dressed, charismatic, and a dominant force in every interaction, credited – almost single-handily – with helping the school rise through the district ranks into fourth place. But there is a far darker truth lingering beneath Tassone’s nip-tucked surface: a man who is nowhere near as cleanly cut as he’d have everyone believe.

As Makowsky’s witty script grapples with this remarkable tale of deceit, Bad Education adopts a slightly heightened version of reality that feels evocative of Alexander Payne’s Election, whilst Michael Abels’ chirpy musical score does a lot of the heavy lifting, tone-wise, to push it into the realms of dark comedy. Our hero this time is student reporter Rachel (a breakout performance from Geraldine Viswanathan), assigned to write a fluff piece on the school’s $7.5 million “skybridge.” In a cruel twist of fate, it’s Frank who accidentally engineers his own downfall after suggesting it’s only a fluff piece if Rachel thinks of it that way. It’s this little nudge of encouragement that leads her down an obsessive path, à la Spotlight, that will expose some shocking truths about the staff at Roslyn.


As Frank , Jackman is alternately pathetic, funny, despicable, and sympathetic – a character built in shades of grey and allowing for a more complicated portrait of entitlement than many might expect. And yet with such a nuanced performance at its core, it’s easy to forget that Bad Education is essentially a two-hander: as business administrator Pam Gluckin, Allison Janney is her usual quipping, sardonic self, but there is a sense of pathos here that her characters aren’t usually afforded; a sad undercurrent of a woman who decided she wanted more and simply went for it.

Despite its somewhat flippant tone (it verges on the satirical), the experience of watching Bad Education is for the most part an anxiety-inducing one. We come to accept it’s all over for Frank long before he does, and the moment where things come crashing down is expertly withheld by Finley. He isn’t afraid to let his story meander occasionally, either (Las Vegas, here we come!), but tight direction paired with Lyle Vincent’s crisp cinematography ensures that it never feels like a director losing control of the material.

The film does drag a little towards the end (it could have easily been fifteen minutes shorter), and afterwards you might wonder whether its structure – hiding Frank’s obvious crimes for as long as possible whilst still presenting him to us as innocent – is in fact suited to a story of this sort. What cannot be denied is that Finley has made a relentlessly entertaining film about white privilege and self-delusion, packed with career-best performances. We always knew Jackman had it in him, of course: just call this a reeducation.

★★★★☆

By: Tom Barnard
Get Bad Education showtimes in London.
This film was screened for the press as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2019. For more information and showtimes for this year’s festival, head to our dedicated page.

[jo]

By: Rahul Patel 4th Oct 2019 Festivals, Film, Reviews
LFF REVIEW: “One of the most exciting films of the year” – ‘Bad Education’ (2019)

*****

“A sparkling script in the hands of beguiling leads”



Bad Education dramatizes the largest embezzlement scandal in US public school history. In the early 2000s, New York’s Roslyn school district was shocked to discover that the adored superintendent, along with his deputy, had stolen millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. Bad Education’s screenplay by Roslyn alumnus, Mike Makowsky, is masterfully composed. As the diabolical duo, Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney prove to be a perfect pair.

Just like Alexander Payne’s Election, Bad Education is centred on a school with amoral faculty. In Matthew Broderick’s stead is Jackman, who plays the exceedingly well-groomed Frank Tassone. His slicked back hair, sparkly eyes and perfectly pressed suits make him look the part of the acclaimed superintendent. Frank’s commitment to his job is boundless: he voluntarily runs a book club for pupils’ parents, and he can hold personal conversations with all his staff (à la Miranda Priestly, but without the help of two beautiful aides). Frank is lauded for his decade-long dedication to make the Roslyn district a top performing region.

The foundations of Bad Education bring to mind Jackman’s recent turn in The Frontrunner. Jason Reitman’s political drama recounted the rise and fall of a presidential hopeful. Both of Jackman’s characters had status and secrets, and both were ultimately thwarted by the press. In Frank’s case, however, it was the efforts of a meticulous student reporter, Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan), that toppled him.

Bad Education’s screenplay displays a similar attentiveness to that shown by Rachel. Makowsky’s script begins as a tight knot holding back a deluge of truths. Each passing page slowly unravels the threads in a delicate pace that lures viewers into the narrative. With the script’s well-placed twists, including the revelation concerning Frank’s double life, this is genuinely one of the most exciting films of the year.

As the white-collar criminal, Jackman puts on a superb performance and Janney matches his excellence. As Frank’s deputy Pam Gluckin, Janney is at the midway point between The West Wing’s C.J. Cregg and I, Tonya’s LaVona Golden; like Jackman, the severe consequences of her transgressive ambitions still induce empathy from onlookers.

If Jackman is Broderick, then replacing Tracy Flick as the thorn in the male lead’s side is student reporter Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan). A great burden is placed on Rachel when she must assess Frank and Pam’s crimes in the light of all the benefits they have brought to the district. It is in this conflict that director Cory Finley shows his skill. He understands the importance of the story in his hands. The dilemma of assessing the truth in the context of the potential negative fallout is portrayed in an exhilarating way. This is a serious story told in a funny, accessible tone – arguably the best approach in this situation.


At the helm of this glorious ship, Finley makes this a spiritual sequel to his directorial debut, Thoroughbreds. Both are sharply executed dark comedies with a diabolical duo at their core. Reteaming with cinematographer Lyle Vincent proves a smart choice. Vincent’s camerawork is effortless and unimposing, and the grainy texture of the film anchors Bad Education both in the early 2000s and as a true story. Completing the brilliant cast are Ray Romano and Rafael Casal, who are memorable without being a distraction from the core tale.

Bad Education received its TIFF premiere during the same week as Makowski’s high school reunion. It is awkwardly poetic that there are people who still wish the whole ordeal would disappear. Fortunately, Makowski knows that this was a story worth retelling. I agree.

With HBO’s recent, pricey acquisition of the distribution rights, Bad Education will eventually premiere on television. Given the TV Academy’s record for awarding anti-heroes, the film can expect to take home a statuette or two at next year’s Emmy Awards.

After all this glowing praise, Bad Education’s finest accomplishment might be getting Hugh Jackman to convincingly play someone who shies away from a dance. Eventually he joins his partner on the dancefloor, as Moby’s ‘In This World’ soundtracks Frank’s final moments in his lavish life.

Dir: Corey Finley
Prod: Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Julia Lebedev, Mike Makowsky, Oren Moverman, Eddie Vaisman
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Rafael Casal, Alex Wolff

Release date: TBC by HBO

[jo]

theartsdesk.com/film/lff-2019-king-review-head-conquers-heart-shakespeare-adaptation

Bad Education

Having finally thrown off the lucrative but limiting Wolverine, Hugh Jackman (pictured right) is displaying the all-round skills of an actor of real stature. He was excellent as presidential candidate Gary Hart in The Front Runner, and he shows us a few more new moves here as Frank Tassone, the superintendent of Roslyn High School in Long Island, New York. Bad Education is the improbable true story of how Tassone, a popular educator feted for raising school standards and thereby boosting the prestige (and property values) of the local community, was arrested in 2004 after it was discovered he’d been embezzling millions of dollars of the school’s money.

Jackman’s twinkly charm works wonders as we see Tassone soothing indignant parents, always finding time for an encouraging word with his students (he punctiliously remembers the grades and subsequent careers of their older siblings too), and chairing meetings with smooth command. With hindsight though, he may have regretted encouraging the fledgling reporter from the school newspaper to always dig deeper and never take no for an answer.

Tassone’s facade of probity and rectitude is so impeccably realised that the subsequent revelations are genuinely shocking, and as the flabbergasting extent of his secret life emerges (including, but not limited to, treating himself to flights on Concorde) so Jackman shifts his character subtly towards his darker side. There’s excellent backup from Allison Janney as Tassone’s deputy Pam Gluckin, seemingly the diligent powerhouse in the school administration but unscrupulously funding herself and her extended family from the Roslyn High coffers. Screenwriter Mike Makowsky was a Roslyn student when the scandal broke. He insists that despite everything, he got a great education.

★★★★

[jo]

Newly listed review at Rotten Tomatoes ( Current rating is at 86%, based on 29 reviews) --


film.list.co.uk/article/111873-bad-education/

Bad Education
Nikki Baughan
4 October 2019


LFF 2019: Cory Finley's stranger than fiction tale stars a superb Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney

Fully subscribing to the notion that truth is often stranger – and more compelling – than fiction, Bad Education takes a knowing dive into the scandal which played out in New York's Roslyn school district in 2002, during which senior administrators were found guilty of embezzling millions of dollars of public money. Featuring knock-out central performances from Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney, this second feature from Cory Finley, director of the exceptional, equally-as-knotty Thoroughbreds, confirms him as a talent to watch.

From the moment we meet him, strutting onto the stage at a school event, it's clear that Long Island district superintendent Frank Tassone (Jackman) is a proud, confident and popular man. Impeccably dressed, with not a hair out of place, he resembles a politician more than an educator. Indeed, that's a fair comparison: Frank regularly uses his gifts of persuasion and his golden smile to get things done.

When it transpires that business administrator – and Frank's right-hand woman – Pam Gluckin (Janney) has been stealing school money, a devastated Frank is determined to protect the district's standing and reputation. Yet, as the details are slowly, beautifully teased out by the whip-smart screenplay from Mike Makowsky (I Think We're Alone Now), himself a former student of Roslyn High School, Frank has his own reasons to bury the truth.


If Bad Education often leans into the surreal humour of the situation – Frank's attempted shakedown of school paper journalist Rachel (the excellent Geraldine Viswanathan, from Blockers), whose investigation plots the course of the narrative, is a case in point – Finley has taken the expert decision to play this sensational story fairly straight. There are no flashy visuals or narrative theatrics a la The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short. Instead, a clear focus on the individuals at the heart of the story explores not only their appalling actions but also the very human (and strangely relatable) ways in which they attempt to rationalise or explain them.

Indeed, while stellar production design keeps us firmly rooted in the early noughties' world of flip phones and CD players, parallels with the morality issues that are currently plaguing everything from politics to culture give Bad Education a resonance and reach far beyond its Long Island setting. It's a superb piece of storytelling.


Screening on Mon 7, Tue 8 and Wed 9 Oct as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2019. General release TBC.

Bad Education
2019US1h 43min
Directed by: Cory Finley
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan

UK release: 7 October 2019
Frank Tassone (Jackman) is a Long Island school superintendent who finds out that his right-hand woman Pam (Janney) has been stealing school money—but Frank has his own secrets. A superb piece of (true) storytelling, with knock-out performances from Jackman, Janney and Viswanathan as school paper journalist Rachel…

[jo]

I Heart The Talkies


Film Review: Bad Education

25/09/2019 Leave a comment

Cory Finley’s sophomore picture Bad Education is a well-crafted exploration of deception. Hugh Jackman delivers an outstanding performance.


Dr Frank Tassone is superintendent of New York’s Roslyn School District, and has turned the high school into one of the top performing public schools in the country. However, a malfeasance scandal threatens the school’s reputation…
Based on real events, Bad Education is a darkly comic drama. Written by Mike Makowsky, Finley’s second feature focuses on malfeasance at a school district. This perhaps does not sound like the most gripping of subjects, yet becomes multi-layered and consequential in Finley’s capable hands.

The narrative takes a little while to get going, whilst the context and main players are introduced. One of the highlights of Bad Education is that it is unclear where the plot will go, particularly after a significant revelation.
Makowsky and Finley flesh out the main characters in a methodical fashion. It is unclear exactly how important certain characters will be to begin with, and Finley keeps viewers guessing. One of the film’s strongest points is its depiction of protagonist Frank. The director is careful in his depiction, slowly peeling back the layers, and shifting audience perception. It is expertly executed.

In focusing on this incident, Finley explores a number of themes. Key to the film is responsibility, accountability, and deception. Like Thoroughbreds, Bad Education is concerned with the nature of sociopathy, and the wider impact it has. The setting works as a microcosm to address larger problems in society as a whole. Some of the dialogue later in the film gives pause for thought.

Bad Education is darkly humorous, yet knows when to be serious. Finley wisely holds back, and is often restrained in terms of comedy. This works well to assert the gravitas of the incident, as well as the mindset of the protagonist.


Hugh Jackman delivers a superb performance as Frank; one of the best of his career. He is as convincing as the charmer as well as the deceiver. Allison Janney is also wonderful, and steals several scenes. Geraldine Viswanathan offers a good turn as Rachel.

Bad Education is great character study, and an entertaining watch. Finley certainly knows his craft.

Bad Education is being screened at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2019.

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[jo]

Film Carnage
LFF 2019

Review: Bad Education
October 7, 2019Posted in LFF 2019, Reviews

The second feature from Thoroughbreds director, Cory Finley and while that film didn’t quite get the love it deserved, with a cast that includes Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney, this one’s set to get a lot more attention. Bad Education tells of a real-life scandal of the largest public school embezzlement in history. A school may not be the place you think of when it comes to embezzling but they really were out to get their money’s worth. The school’s had some notable alumni including Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton and the film’s own writer Mike Makowsky, who even attended the school at the time of the scandal, giving him first hand knowledge of what happened.

It’s fairly likely most British film fans, or possibly even a lot of the Americans given that it happened over a decade ago, won’t be familiar with this particular scandal and that’s an asset, going in blind makes it all the more enjoyable so it’s recommended to not look much further than the synopsis. It’s understandably hard to imagine that a money scandal taking place in a high school in the late 90’s to early 00’s, with the drab fashion and upscale public education is particularly fascinating but it will pleasantly surprise you. Cory Finley will prove that the enthralling quality to his first film wasn’t a fluke.

The most delightful part of that surprise is how strong the comedy runs through this film, even straight comedies have trouble getting laugh out loud reactions but this film has moments like that running all through it. It’s genuinely funny and witty, there is no real lull in its tight 103-minute run time, thankfully the filmmakers resisted the common urge to go over the 2 hour mark. The writing style manages to keep the film’s feet firmly on the ground and ensures the characters feel like everyday people, it’s surprising for it to remain ordinary enough without becoming uninteresting or monotonous, but it’s also surprising that such strong work comes from a writer who recently worked on the far less than stellar Take Me (the director and star of which, appears in Bad Education).


As you’d expect, the strongest part of the film is the cast, Hugh Jackman has gone through a huge variety of roles and never disappoints, a man that was still good even in the hot mess that was Pan and this is no exception. There’s an extra layer of vulnerability with this role, Frank Tassone is a very confident man but beneath that lies a lot of self-image and acceptance issues that are a huge part of this story and which Jackman handles with effortless grace. Then you have the incomparable Allison Janney, she’s yet again fantastic in this role and provides a lot of the laughs, it would have been better to see more of her but unfortunately her arc leaves her out of the action for lengthy portions. You wouldn’t think that a great scene could come out of these two actors simply eating a sandwich but that’s how charismatic they are on screen together.

A stand out for the film is Geraldine Viswanathan, she isn’t a newcomer given that she’s starred in Blockers and comedy series Miracle Workers but she’s a refreshing talent to watch, she does a fantastic job of bringing the determination of her character to the screen with a wonderful comedic edge. The cast is a really great ensemble, even Ray Romano has a few choice moments, it’s taken a long time but he’s gradually pulling himself into this decade and becoming relevant again, especially with an upcoming appearance in the hotly anticipated The Irishman.

Real-life crime stories are having a real moment in media, although they’ve rarely ever had a lull, audiences love to watch people throw their morals and ethics into the wind, and without violence or murder, this film has managed to make itself one of the more interesting crime stories to be adapted to the big screen. Bad Education is captivating, funny and one of the most absorbing performances from Hugh Jackman in recent years. It’s disappointingly not often a film genuinely makes you laugh out loud but this is one of the gems that will, it’s just indie enough that it might not get the audience it deserves but give it a chance and it will surprise you.

Verdict: ✯✯✯✯

[jo]

[mamaleh]

I hope HBO follows the path of THE IRISHMAN, which is being screened at a legitimate theater before it begins streaming on TV. Best scenario: screenings in L. A. to qualify BAD EDUCATION for Oscars. But it doesn't look like that will happen.

Ellen

[jo]

Whether or not you’re familiar with all the details of the $11.2 million public school embezzlement scandal in New York in the early 00s, you soon will be after Cory Finley takes to the screen again this festival season. Comparisons to Netflix’s The Laundromat are likely, but even on its own, Bad Education is looking to be a robust and highly-charged feature about the single largest public school embezzlement in history.

While Thoroughbreds might have played out like a modern Heathers, Cory Finley’s second feature Bad Education could be compared to high-octane political thrillers such as The Post. In some ways it’s difficult to compare it to anything because it’s so given to sensationalism. But in depicting this very real scandal, Finley shows a sensibility, exposes a preoccupation with performance and keeping up appearances, and deals with the consequences.

Finley set a high bar with his feature debut Thoroughbreds two years ago, so with his directing potential, it’s little wonder he’s gone on to attract some big players. Not to be confused with 2015's The Bad Education Movie, a spinoff from the Jack Whitehall-led BBC series, Finley’s latest feature is -- how shall I put it -- just a little more elegant. No school-led caper, this is a high-stakes political drama that just happens to be set against a school backdrop.


Bad Education
Director: Cory Finley
Release date: September 8, 2019 (TIFF); October 7, 2019 (LFF)
Rating: Not yet rated



Hugh Jackman stars as Frank Tassone, a charismatic New York school superintendent of great repute who learns how to play the system -- and the goodwill of parents and benefactors -- for profit. Alison Janney stars alongside as his deputy, Pam Gluckin, channeling the vein of her role as the merciless LaVona in I, Tonya. The two make an unexpectedly shining duo on screen, and an interview with the cast at TIFF shows how much thought the actors have dedicated to their roles, which looked like a lot of fun to enact.


Janney and Jackman may initially appear to be an unusual match, but in a Q&A following the screening Finley explained that this unusual match proved very fortuitous. While they knew one another socially before the film, they hadn’t worked together -- yet they have a spectacular chemistry on screen. For instance, there’s a fantastic scene where they sit together outside the school and talk plans over lunch. Janney teases Jackman mercilessly with a sandwich, and he accepts a bite with more vigour that I’ve ever seen anyone eat a humble lunch before. This scene was improvised between the two and it fits absolutely seamlessly into the film, texturing their characters in fantastic detail.



Finley seems drawn to human characters with whom he could sympathise, and Frank Tassone is charismatic person who genuinely seemed to care about the wellbeing of his students. In casting Jackman, Finley chose to display those same charismatic and likeable traits to create a character not entirely undeserving of sympathy.
It was a conscious choice to research and explore this particular topic: while the subject might be in the peripheral memory of many Americans, I think it is something that certainly will become more known with the release of the film. There’s an argument to be made for the parallel between corruption of power on an educational level and a wider, more pervasive cynicism in authority figures in government and State institutions.

Finley has once again proven his exceptional eye for detail and sensitivity to nuance in even greater force. The stately, elegant, operatic score is the perfect companion to pitch-black humour. I particularly engaged with the wide-angle filming and long takes, which at once aligned us with the characters and showed how much they were up against. Finley uses establishing shots to orientate us in the characters’ world and especially focuses on framed photographs to tell a story. After all, our approach to photographs in 2002 was a little more permanent and telling than in today’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it social media age.

Talking about the tone of the piece drawing him to the script, Finley mentioned the tone, and how he was intent that it navigated comedy and tragedy, often at the same moment. For example, in Frank’s moments of happiness, when he wins battles against overbearing mothers and insufferable students, it’s at once hilarious how he keeps a smile plastered to his face, and desperately sad that a grown man should have to assert his authority by demeaning those beneath him and lying to those closest to him. Nobody is above his lies: even using close colleagues as scapegoats, he does everything he can to keep abreast of the inevitable and spectacular unravelling of his reputation. Like a captain abandoning ship, he loses credibility and trust in everyone.


There’s no doubt: Bad Education is funny. More than a few times, the whole audience laughed out loud at the shortest line of dialogue or an askew glance from one character to another. The problem is, not everyone is seeing the funny side of the film. Regional paper The Roslyn News only days ago reported how the region and its schools is not associated with the film in any way and that it reflects a scandal that deeply shocked the neighborhood. It seems that, even a decade after it was first uncovered, the subject is still touchy.

The real star of the show is Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan), a junior student at the high school who is commissioned to write a fluff piece on the school’s expensive new Skywalk project. Encouraged by Frank, no less, to pursue her passion for journalism and to turn it into a serious endeavour, she begins to investigate unusual expense figures in the school’s public record. Her courage and initiative were instrumental in uncovering the scandal, but as with all things that matter, Rachel has to make a decision that might cost her everything -- her family’s social status, the trust of Frank and the school authorities, and the crucial acceptance letter to college.

Finley closely observes the complex crossover between education and economics, which had a significant impact on the script development process. It’s an interesting observation that so many of the decisions that are made within school life are influenced by those in power, as if the school is a micro-economy. You may choose to read it as a skewering of modern politics and power, but Bad Education deals with the fallout of consistent lying; in deceiving others, you eventually deceive yourself.

[jo]

MOVIES: Bad Education (LFF 2019) - Review
Posted by Milo MJ at September 25, 2019 2 Comments


Based on a true story, Cory Finley returns fresh off the unconventional underrated black comedy Thoroughbreds in favour of a delightful effort that’s made all the more compelling by the brilliant performances of Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney, who knock it out of the park, making all of writer Mike Makowsky’s script land with the effect that it needs to, leading to a mostly full cinema laughing constantly throughout the movie.

The film mostly avoids the biopic formula in favour of immediately throwing us right into the action in 2002, and introducing us almost immediately to a superintendent of a school district and the film's lead character Frank Tissone, played by Hugh Jackman - who works for the betterment of students’ education, but on the side he's stealing stealing money from public funds to live a life of luxury, visiting Vegas whilst wearing multiple expensive suits in the process. He’s joined in a life of crime by his fellow staff member Pam Gluckin, played by Allison Janney, who uses the school’s cards to ramp up expenses stretching into figures that range into absurdity.

Finley’s direction is fantastic, really capturing the mood and atmosphere of the high-end school, giving us a sense of the environment that we are in and how the characters fit within them. We open with Jackman’s Superintendent Frank Tassone telling a student to write more than just a puff piece for the school’s local news, but unwittingly, he’s planting the seeds that will lead to his own downfall, prompting Rachel Bhargava, played brilliantly by Blockers actress Geraldine Viswanathan - to stubbornly investigate the truth regardless of the consequences that will come with it. To use an example – Viswanathan’ Rachel is the films’ Lois Lane, and Jackman’s Frank is Bad Education’s Lex Luthor, opting for a public facade where he presents himself as a likeable everyman and problem solver dedicated to his job, but we soon learn that he is not beyond temptation.

Based on the real life events that occurred at writer Mike Makowsky's high school during the time that he was a student there, Bad Education has something to say about the American school education system and it’s through his script where the story comes to life, with Finley setting the stages for it to really work. It’s a dialogue heavy movie where we get to understand all the quirks of the characters and what makes them different, reminding us at the very end that this really happened.

The film itself isn’t quite as dark as Thoroughbreds, but Jackman in particular is really able to get at the role of his character in something that’s different to almost everything he’s done in his career before, not since The Prestige anyway, elevating the script even further, allowing for a possibly career best performance, with him being more of a scumbag than we’re used to, but at the same time, his public face makes him appear to have that likeable charm that Jackman manages to get across so well. Allison Janney too, plays her role as equally corrupt Pam Gluckin with conviction, and it’s interesting to see how the extended Gluckin family fits into the narrative too, with some of the best scenes in the film taking place when they’re involved. Gluckin herself is positioned as Tassone without the likeability, and it's clear she is a downright sociopath at times.

Bad Education doesn’t come without its flaws but they are short-lived in comparison, and the plot can sag at times particularly in the first act, but when the story gets going it’s hard not to fall in love with it, and playing out very much like a true-crime drama, it makes audiences positively excited to see how everything unravels making the slow start all the more rewarding because of the set-up required. Multiple incidents keep audiences guessing; American Vandal star Jimmy Tatro playing Pam’s hopelessly stupid son to perfection, and in addition to his actions Tassone giving Rachel the motivation to crack on investigating and turn her story into something more serious sees the start of his downfall, which is mostly kept seperate from his personal life where he has the time to start seeing a former student who in this case, is played by Rafael Casal that allows him to have the escapism fantasy he desires. Jackman makes you sympathise with his performance from beginning to end, and no matter how calculating his character can be, and it’s to his credit that he is more than capable of delivering.

If you want a true crime movie that opts for a different approach than normal (and incidentally, perfect for those looking to get their next American Vandal-type fix after Netflix cancelled the series) Bad Education should be right up your street and tackles real-world affairs in a timely and important way. It’s one of the best movies of the London Film Festival so far and you cannot afford to miss it, despite its flaws.

Milo

Milo is a TV and film reviewer for SpoilerTV. His favourite shows are Twin Peaks, The Wire and The Leftovers and reviews shows which include Castle Rock and Star Trek Discovery. His favourite movies of all time can be found here, and he also regularly posts movie reviews on Letterboxd here. He is also a supporter of Arsenal FC.

[jo]

From the UK, as submitted to Rotten Tomatoes --

A short but well-written review by

Nathan Osborne
Film Inquiry

Bad Education (Cory Finley)

Nathan Osborne: Sophomore slump? What sophomore slump? Cory Finley’s layered second feature is a bitingly funny and sharply pointed movie that delivers on the promise he exhibited in his directorial debut Thoroughbreds – and then some.

Bad Education (2019) – source: BFI LFF

Inspired by the biggest theft ever recorded in the American school system, Bad Education uses a small town event as a clever vessel to parallel the bigger, wider and socially-relevant issues of today. Written by Mike Makowsky in a screenplay teaming with moral ambiguity, tightly-crafted humour and genuine surprise, Bad Education’s incredible astute cautionary tale of corruption and authority is as throughly entertaining as it is bleakly recognisable. Finley’s extraordinary ability to balance the screenplay’s tones is an impressive feat in itself: hilarious one minute and bitting the next, he tinges it with a melancholy sadness as the contemporary resonance become clearer. His camera moves precisely, a measured piece of filmmaking that figuratively and literally lines everything up in its cross-hares so there’s no mistaking the target by the conclusion. It doesn’t quite know when and where to call it a day, stuttering out a little towards the end, but we’re nitpicking here – on the whole, it’s staggeringly sophisticated.


Hugh Jackman delivers a career-best performance as Frank Tassone: relying on his natural charisma while hiding something deceitful underneath, Jackman so skilfully calibrates a tricky character that could have fallen to pieces in the wrong hands. Jackman is perfect casting, as is the fabulously snarky Allison Janney: as reliably hilarious as ever, she can just as convincingly sell the darker dramatics of her role. Matched tremendously, the duo cultivate a chemistry that cements the pair as one of the most surprising and dynamic combinations of the year: award consideration for either would be earned and deserved.

Pay attention to the darkly funny, sadly relevant and morally blurred Bad Education, which proves Cory Finley to be one of the most exciting new directors. It’s a winning grade from me.

[jo]

Also submitted to RT, from a London Festival viewing --

vulturehound.co.uk/2019/10/talk-about-the-money-bad-education-bfi-london-film-festival-review/

[jo]

Film blogger only cared for the career-best performance of Hugh Jackman --

www.zavvi.com/blog/reviews/lff-2019-bad-education-review/

Reviews
LFF 2019: Bad Education – Review

Simon Whitlock
Contributing Writer / 8 hours ago

Whenever a film claims to be based on a true story, there’s always an amount of scepticism around how closely events depicted reflect the truth.

With Bad Education, the second film from Thoroughbreds director Cory Finley, the tale of a high school administration committing embezzlement of the school’s budget actually took place in Roslyn, New York, the hometown of the film’s writer Mark Makowsky. He was a middle school student in the same town when the story broke. Not quite a first-hand witness, but uncannily placed to be able to give this story an accurate account.

The players at the centre of Bad Education and Roslyn’s administration are the high school’s business administrator Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney), and most prominently, the district superintendent Frank Tassone; a role here played by Hugh Jackman in perhaps the best performance of his career to date.


Jackman, an actor whose performances are typically more showy than subtle, immerses himself in the captivating character of Tassone, nailing the balance between the facade of humility and righteousness displayed for the public eye, and the corruption and entitlement which lies beneath.

Not once does he let the mask of the respectable administrator slip in the correct company, but as events transpire to implicate Tassone in an embezzlement case where the figures keep rising, Jackman absolutely sells the desperation of a man who has worked himself into a position of privilege, unwilling to let go of his ill-gotten livelihood.



There is a sense that Tassone and Gluckin see their actions as an entitlement bestowed upon them due to their position, and Markowsky’s script, whilst unafraid to depict the culprits’ most egregious acts of larceny, never portrays either person as wholly villainous.

Tassone at least is considered to be responsible for the successes of the town’s high school, and by extension the town’s prosperity. He never seems to be insincere about his admiration for the school’s students either; at one point, when the world he has created for himself begins to fall apart, he still demonstrates patience and encouragement for an underachieving child.

Beyond such a phenomenal central performance though, Bad Education falls short as anything more than a solid small-town crime drama. Finley is more than happy to let Jackman’s performance drive the film, and whenever the story moves away from his character’s wrongdoings, the whole endeavour grinds to a halt.

The film’s total run-time comes to 103 minutes, but it feels at least twice that. What’s more, the lack of any clear consequences for these characters embezzling millions of dollars – aside from the prison sentences handed down – feels like a failure to make any salient point.

When it was announced that HBO had thrown a lot of money to acquire the rights to Bad Education after the Toronto International Film Festival, there was a feeling that it was a shame it will miss the major film awards race. But as it turns out, Jackman’s stellar performance notwithstanding, this film’s ultimate destiny as a TV movie feels strangely apt.

★★★☆☆

Bad Education does not currently have a UK release date.

[jo]

Latest LFF review by Adam Sweeting raises Rotten Tomatoes average rating to 88 %!

theartsdesk.com/film/lff-2019-king-review-head-conquers-heart-shakespeare-adaptation

Bad Education

Having finally thrown off the lucrative but limiting Wolverine, Hugh Jackman (pictured right) is displaying the all-round skills of an actor of real stature. He was excellent as presidential candidate Gary Hart in The Front Runner, and he shows us a few more new moves here as Frank Tassone, the superintendent of Roslyn High School in Long Island, New York. Bad Education is the improbable true story of how Tassone, a popular educator feted for raising school standards and thereby boosting the prestige (and property values) of the local community, was arrested in 2004 after it was discovered he’d been embezzling millions of dollars of the school’s money.

Jackman’s twinkly charm works wonders as we see Tassone soothing indignant parents, always finding time for an encouraging word with his students (he punctiliously remembers the grades and subsequent careers of their older siblings too), and chairing meetings with smooth command. With hindsight though, he may have regretted encouraging the fledgling reporter from the school newspaper to always dig deeper and never take no for an answer.

Tassone’s facade of probity and rectitude is so impeccably realised that the subsequent revelations are genuinely shocking, and as the flabbergasting extent of his secret life emerges (including, but not limited to, treating himself to flights on Concorde) so Jackman shifts his character subtly towards his darker side. There’s excellent backup from Allison Janney as Tassone’s deputy Pam Gluckin, seemingly the diligent powerhouse in the school administration but with secrets of her own. Screenwriter Mike Makowsky was a Roslyn student when the scandal broke. He insists that despite everything, he got a great education.

★★★★

[jo]

Here's a late review added to Rotten Tomatoes --

Blogarama | Subscribe | Log In

REVIEWS
Bad Education: BRWC LFF Review
31st October 2019 Dan Barnes
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Bad Education: BRWC LFF Review.
Having first burst onto the scene in 2017 with the astonishingly brilliant Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley’s sophomore picture is a real-life tale of a school embezzlement scandal that took place in the early 2000s.

Bad Education is, as one might expect, a whip-smart black comedy, tackling dark themes in a satirical and often highly cynical fashion. Unlike Thoroughbreds, Finley is not the writer here, although it’s fascinating to see that Mike Makowsky penned the script, having attended the school himself at the time of the scandal. His keen, observational eye is present on the screen, with the story meticulously playing out in a manner that always feels natural.



Finley has a real knack for visual storytelling; his willingness to make even the most mundane of conversations as enticing as possible really helping to bring the story to life. A less inventive filmmaker may have wound up with a fairly forgettable production, but Finley admirably wants his films to be memorable for his audiences, finding entertainment value in the most genuinely distressing situations. This talent is present in both of his features, and there’s no question of an intrigue around what he might do next. Thoroughbreds and Bad Education are, if nothing else, films from an artist with a unique perspective on the world.

Hugh Jackman is on top-form here, with one of the strongest performances of his career as Frank Tassone, a fascinating and multi-layered protagonist, while the supporting cast add to the film’s energy and drive, with Allison Janney and Geraldine Viswanathan in particular producing stellar work here.

Ironically, Bad Education is one big lesson; a study in self-preservation, and how the world really works. It’s as infuriating as it should be, but a lesson that feels arguably more potent now than ever, and Finley’s approach is snarky, intelligent and wickedly funny.

The film’s themes, while socially relevant, are not quite as interesting or refreshing as in Finley’s masterful debut, so it sadly lacks the same qualities that made Thoroughbreds so special and unique, but it’s just clever and entertaining enough to work. Bad Education is an extremely witty and well-constructed, razor-sharp black comedy, and a strong reminder of just how good an actor Jackman can be in the right role.

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Dan Barnes
Dan is a freelance film critic who hopes to encourage people to venture outside of their comfort zone and try out different movies. He is a proud supporter of independent cinema, but will give pretty much anything a try.

[jo]

Home / Featured / London Film Festival 2019 – Bad Education

London Film Festival 2019 – Bad Education
Posted by: The Reviews Hub - London in Featured, Film, London, Review 27 days ago 0

Writer: Mike Makowsky
Director: Cory Finley
Reviewer: Maryam Philpott


Thinking about your teachers as real people and considering what they really got up to at school is a strange concept so vested are they with institutional and educative authority. Having wives, husbands and hobbies is one thing, but imagine them committing major misdeeds right under your nose. Cory Finley’s new film Bad Education discovers exactly that as a student reporter at a high school newspaper broke one of the biggest financial scandals in American scholastic history.

Frank Tassone is loved by students, staff and parents alike; he’s charming, kind and a genuinely good teacher although his role as Superintendent of Roslyn High School leaves him with little time in the classroom. But when his deputy Pam Gluckin is caught embezzling school funds Frank must choose between the Board’s demands and his old friend, until a student reporter uncovers a much bigger scandal within in a pile of Purchase Orders.

The US high school movie had a very long life from the 1980s to early 2000s with The Breakfast Club, Mean Girls and 10 Things I Hate About You becoming a training ground for young American actors who’ve gone on to bigger stardom. Finley’s film, however, is quite different taking a lightly satirical tone and an adult perspective on the business of running a school and managing the complex hierarchy with governors and auditors.

Finley has a strong grasp of tone which is well maintained throughout the film and he handles the surprising twists and revelations with confidence and humour, making them a surprise to anyone who doesn’t know the story already. One of Bad Education’s most enjoyable aspects is the quick acceleration of events that builds a downward spiral from the first revelation allowing the audience to understand the extraordinary chain of events that made this scandal economically shocking as well as creating a feel for the personal betrayals within Roslyn. Finley makes this feel like a stain slowly spreading through the staff as the film unfolds but with a knowing style that keeps it fresh and entertaining.



Hugh Jackman gives one of his most layered performances as Frank, a man obsessed with his appearance and certain that he is one of the good guys. Frank is key to the shape of the film, partly seen from his perspective until Finley double bluffs the audience, Jackman captures all the politician-like allure of a charming leader who loves his position of influence but, as events soon suggest, he is a character with a few secrets of his own. Jackman is particularly good at revealing the façade and self-illusion that sit beneath the surface of Frank’s attentiveness.


Alison Janey as Pam is equally good showing the professional administrator that everyone admired and the entitled venality beneath, which even after being caught she expects her status will ensure it’s all quietly brushed under the carpet. School newspaper reporter Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan) show great tenacity as the student uncovering something on a scale that even she never quite realises but operating under the radar enough for the senior leadership team to barely notice.

Finley’s film is full of satirical humour and nicely pitched characterisation that feel both familiar as high school tropes and suitably shocking when it all comes tumbling down. There is always a price to pay for schools in pursuit of League Table status and for the staff who get their institution to number one, the rewards may not be good enough. Bad Education suggests that an educational policy that pushes students to the best schools in the best areas to get to the best universities will mean some places need to cheat along the way.

The BFI London Film Festival runs from 2 October to 13 October
Review Overview
The Reviews Hub Score

4 of 5 stars

Fresh and entertaining

[jo]

Another and more detailed review is added to the Rotten Tomatoes list --

nerdist.com/article/bad-education-tiff-review/

Movies
BAD EDUCATION Is a Wild Ride and Entertaining Ride About Adults Gone Bad (TIFF Review)
by Kay-B
Sep 8 2019 • 11:52 AM


I never thought that I needed a dramedy duo in Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman) and Allison Janney (The West Wing) until this year’s premiere of Bad Education at the Toronto International Film Festival. Based on true events that took place at the film’s writer’s high school, the story follows Jackman’s character Frank Tassone and Janney’s character Pam Gluckin on the wildest case of larceny I have ever seen, that happened in the Roslyn School District on Long Island, NY.

When the film opens, you are immediately drawn to Tassone and Gluckin’s camaraderie. They run their district so smoothly, no one dares question how, but rather it is portrayed as a breath of fresh air. Tassone cares about his employees and students in a way that is, honestly, so refreshing to see. We rarely see admins care to the point of making personal house calls and going out of their way to make sure the students get into the best and brightest colleges. Tassone and Gluckin both work late, and go above and beyond to make the parents, students and staff feel supported, valued and empowered to be the best versions of themselves, no matter where they go.


Slowly this façade starts to fade as you watch Gluckin allow her family members to use a Roslyn-issued credit card for personal responsibilities such as, to buy supplies for her house remodel and Christmas gifts for her nephew. When family members initially inquire about the card, she always responds with ease that she’ll handle it and not to worry. In turn, she spends many nights altering documents and records to her advantage. Her son, not as smart as his mother, slips up and creates a domino effect when he fails to cover his tracks appropriately during a Home Depot shopping trip, and thus the bigger story unfolds.


When Gluckin goes down, her partnership with Tassone goes with it and no one holds back. Tassone works with the school system to get her a deal that seems fitting to him but mostly leaving her to take all the blame and carrying on as usual. And for a moment, you start to think she might be working alone until you see there’s more than meets the eye with Tassone. It is this pivotal turn of events where Janney and Jackman play off of each other incredibly well, showing the destruction of a partnership that the audience has grown to love and respect, giving us some of the best scenes of the film.


In the epic uncovering, it isn’t just Gluckin’s son massive screw-up that bolsters this crime to the forefront, but also the impressive investigative journalism of a Roslyn High Student, Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan, Miracle Workers). A school newspaper assignment led to her uncovering millions of dollars of fraudulent purchases that brought down Roslyn staff, including Tassone. The film isn’t just good because of the insane plot that keeps you on your toes every moment of the film, but the film is good because Jackman presents Tassone a fully formed human being with narcissistic traits that give way to a broader and more complex character, whose personal and professional lines are so blurred, that he ends up poetically succumbing to the intricate web he’s woven.


The way he shifts his entire being to throw Gluckin and anyone else in his path, including a teenager, under the bus to save himself, makes you question the true mental state of Tassone. He moves so stealthily that other employees don’t even realize their engagement in the fraud and extortion due to neglect in their work and sometimes unintentional oversight.

Bad Education, a story that I had not known prior to seeing the film, but researched thoroughly after, is so insane that I walked out of the theater questioning how all organized bodies spend the allotted dollars they are given. It shows just how easy it is to do the wrong things, how people will go to great lengths to cover their illegal activities, and how some people can delusionally believe that when it comes to financial corruption, the lines of right and wrong are not always black and white but sometimes a shade of grey.


The film shows how you never really know anyone fully, just the parts that they allow you to see. And as these individuals are ultimately convicted and do their stint in prison, you question whether a black or brown person who committed the same crime would’ve been granted the second chances and/or type of leniency that our characters and these real-life thieves were. So, if you haven’t read all about how a student helped bring moral deceit to light do so, and then follow that up by checking out the film and its stellar performances, when it debuts on HBO.



4.5 out of 5

Header Image: HBO Films

[jo]

Not sure where this fits - but could it be ??!!!!!!!!

The HFPA awards the Golden Globes!

Could they be considering Hugh Jackman for a possible nomination?

But isn't Hugh supposed to be filming Reminiscence down south?


Or is someone pulling our leg? Although the blue-tickmarked tweeter seems to belong to media.



Jo



PS :

Since they are Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- can they consider a release in Toronto and London as valid movie releases??

I do hope so!!!

[jo]

www.goldenglobes.com/

*Deadline for submission of entries - Oct 25, 2019
*Announcement of Golden Globe nominations - December 9, 2019

[jo]

On the other hand, Hugh sent out a message on Instagram stories ( not sure where from or when it was made - could have been where he is currently filming - or the message could have been post-dated) re one of their advocacies.

www.instagram.com/stories/thehughjackman/

So, we'll see if this develops further.

PS: Yay - my Instagram access is back ( without me doing anything at all) - I guess that was self-inflicted by Instagram itself


Jo

[jo]

Bad Education opens in cinemas in Spain on March 6 - the only country which has film distribution rights for theatrical screening.

A new review has been posted...and raised the average rating at Rotten Tomatoes to 89% at the moment.


cinemania.20minutos.es/criticas/bad-education/


Translation by GOOGLE --

Overall Rating : 4 stars of 5

It is true that the Roslyn school district scandal, which revealed a million-dollar fraud carried out by two administrators of a New York public school, is not a particularly promising plot premise. However, Cory Finley manages to get huge amounts of dramatic juice by building his second film around a fascinating personality: Superintendent Tassone, parapeted behind a facade of righteousness so firm that it is hypnotic to contemplate how the shocks of his secret life gradually emerge and Hugh Jackman - in what is perhaps the most complex interpretation of his career - he enters the darker side of the character.

Finley puts some distance from the great black comedy that made him a director to consider, Purasangre (2017). Less a satire than a procedural intrigue with comic touches, Bad Education renounces the self-conscious sight of that predecessor to delve into the damaged psychology of its protagonist. As Bad Education portrays, Tassone is a man so accustomed to rationalizing his own acts that he has come to convince himself that his crimes are something noble; and Finley pushes us to contemplate it from the ideal point of view, making us feel enough empathy to understand it but not to excuse it.

It looks like there is full appreciation of the complex character study of Frank Tassone that Hugh Jackman fully explores!

[hughmanity]

time.com/5821552/bad-education-movie-review/

ENTERTAINMENTHBO'S GRIPPING BAD EDUCATION TELLS THE STORY OF A TRULY EPIC SCAM
HBO's Gripping Bad Education Tells the Story of a Truly Epic Scam
Bad Education - Official Trailer - HBO
Bad Education - Official Trailer - HBO
SharePlay Video
BY STEPHANIE ZACHAREK
APRIL 15, 2020 4:43 PM EDT
No one likes getting older, least of all actors. But there are reasons actors often do their best work in their 40s, 50s and beyond: if they can free themselves from the desire to play likable characters, they can move into the far richer territory of playing polychrome ones. In Cory Finley’s white-collar-crime dark comedy Bad Education, on HBO beginning April 25, Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney use their chief currency—their inherent likability—to lead us down a thorny, jagged path. As modern humans, we take so much pride in knowing everything that we forget how pleasurable it is to be duped. It’s fun to put ourselves in the hands of expert bamboozlers, and in Bad Education, Janney and Jackman are exactly that.

Jackman stars as Frank Tassone, the much loved and highly efficient superintendent of an affluent Long Island school district, Roslyn, in the early aughts. Under Frank’s guidance, the district’s academic record has soared, raising property values and thrilling parents, who are overjoyed to see their little Justins and Jessicas being funneled into Ivy League schools. Frank is the sort of guy who remembers kids’ names and what they’re interested in—his people skills are half slick, half genuine. His second-in-command, Janney’s Pam Gluckin, is more hard-nosed—her deadpan glare is practically a death ray. Together, these two are a great success story, and their community adores them for its own selfish reasons.


Then a bright student journalist, Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan, in a sly, quietly vital performance), pops into Frank’s office for a story she’s working on, about a skywalk the school is planning to build. She seems happy with the quick quote she gets from him, and when he presses her—Doesn’t she want to ask any follow-up questions?—she assures him it’s just a puff piece. “It’s only a puff piece if you let it be a puff piece,” he tells her, thus handing her the keys to a cabinet full of not-so-carefully hidden secrets.

Bad Education, based on real-life events, is a story about old-fashioned shoe-leather—or, in this case, sneaker-sole—journalism. There’s something heartening about the way Rachel is driven to pursue what starts out as a nonstory, even as plenty of those around her (including the paper’s editor, played by Alex Wolff) claim she’s wasting her time. This is how journalism, a notoriously low-paying profession that’s increasingly endangered, will survive.


But Bad Education is also a story about hubris, vanity and the way regular people just can’t help desiring status and fancy things—and about the reality that people are often more complicated than we want to believe. These are roles that Jackman and Janney can dig into, and they turn up all sorts of dark, glittering surprises. Janney has the face of the best friend you’d trust with your life, and she uses that to wily effect here: Pam gets stuff done by barking commands even as she maintains a sense of humor—but you also see ripples of repressed anger shimmering beneath her gal-Friday surface. And Jackman is terrific here, a preening peacock in an array of meticulously pressed suits. Frank is the kind of guy who’s spent so long polishing his public mask that he’s lost sight of the man inside—yet he still betrays the occasional glimmer of tenderness or generosity. Bad Education is a story of small-town villains who just can’t help themselves, and it’s fun to see how their own carelessness trips them up. These are people we can’t trust, played by actors we trust implicitly. Why not be flimflammed by the best?


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