BAD EDUCATION : Official Reviews ( SPOILERS)

[jo]

Great review!

Jo

[jo]

From New Zealand media --

Bad Education: Hugh Jackman shines in stunning true crime drama
James Croot
09:40, Apr 20 2020


HBO
Bad Education will debut on SoHo 2 on April 27, before becoming available to stream on Neon on May 3.
Bad Education (103mins) Directed by Cory Finlay ★★★★½

They say a town is only as good as its school system.
In that respect, the citizens of New York's Roslyn Heights had a lot to thank Dr Frank A. Tassone (Hugh Jackman) for.

In 10 short years, the charismatic district superintendent had revamped the area's education system, taking it to No. 4 in the state. Beloved by both parents and students, virtually all of whose names he knew, the widowed administrator was constantly in demand, be it for parents concerned about their children's progress, or as an active participant in local book clubs.

Now, as the 2002 academic year reaches its climax, Tassone has a clear goal – make Roslyn No.1. To achieve this, he's persuaded the board to spend US$8m on a Skywalk for the high school's students. Happy to espouse its virtues to anyone who'll listen, Tassone welcomes the interest from the student newspaper The Hilltop Beacon.

When rookie reporter Rachel Kellog (Geraldine Viswanathan) admits she's just doing a "puff piece", Tassone smiles and says, "only if you let it be". "A real journalist can turn any assignment in to a story."


Rookie high school reporter Rachel Kellog (Geraldine Viswanathan) asks some awkward questions of school district superintendent Dr Frank A. Tassone (Hugh Jackman).

Written by Roslyn High School alumni Mike Makowsky (apocalypse movie I Think We're Alone Now), Bad Education is a darkly comic look at some truly troubling real-life events.

Filled with colourful characters, fabulous dialogue and pitch-perfect pacing, director Cory Finlay's (Thoroughbreds) tale has the feel of a true crime documentary delivered by a top notch cast of actors. Those who enjoyed I, Tonya or American Animals will lap up this re-creation of a little known, but highly engrossing and shocking story.

As with Tonya, one of Bad Education's strengths is the performance of Allison Janney. She is quite brilliant as Tassone's right-hand woman Pam Gluckin, "the one who keeps the lights on" in the school district. Look out too, for Ray Romano (The Irishman) at his serio-comic best in a key role.



Bad Education has the feel of a true crime documentary delivered by a top notch cast of actors.

However, the film rightly belongs to Jackman. Trading heavily on the Aussie actor's own charms and smooth demeanour, the more the story unfolds, the more you appreciate just how complex and clever his performance is. Frank Tassone is a character whose face he presents to his peers and the public is very different to his true nature away from the spotlight.
Makowsky's script cleverly only dripfeeds details about this, making the eventual revelations truly jaw-dropping. However, the sell wouldn't truly sizzle without such a fabulous turn from the former Wolverine and P.T. Barnum.

Throw in a haunting, unnerving atmospheric score by Michael Abels (Us, Get Out) and the result is a memorable watch.
Bad Education debuts on SoHo2 on Monday, April 27 and is available to stream on Neon from May 3.

[jo]

A video review --

[hughmanity]

Wow- this blogger's review is full of superlatives--and an interesting take on "television movies" vis a vis awards consideration.


lights-camera-jackson.com/bad-education-review/


LIGHTS CAMERA JACKSON
‘Bad Education’ Review
April 19, 2020 By Jackson Murphy

Bad Education
“Bad Education” debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last September. At that time it was still seeking a distributor. Many industry analysts predicted the film would be bought-up by a studio looking to, both release it theatrically, and make it immediately eligible for the 2019 awards season. That strategy would’ve complicated things for a couple of reasons.

First, it was already shaping-up to be a crowded, competitive awards season. Secondly, Hugh Jackman, the film’s star, wasn’t able to attend the TIFF premiere, and likely couldn’t have done much campaigning for the movie because he was in the midst of a global concert tour.

In the end, HBO scooped-up “Bad Education” for an eye-popping $20 million. The question everyone asked: Why would a studio pay that much for a movie that couldn’t compete for Oscars?

Fast-forward 7-months. Most movie theaters are closed. Most big-budget studio films have had their release dates delayed or are in limbo. And now, here comes “Bad Education” — on HBO.

Make no mistake. Even though it’s premiering on television, “Bad Education” is not a traditional “Made for TV” movie (if that phrase even applies anymore). People have become accustomed to watching Netflix and Amazon original films on TVs/mobile devices. But those studios open their showcase movies in a couple of theaters in LA for a week to qualify them for the Academy Awards. HBO isn’t doing that.

“Bad Education” could finally force film purists to evolve to the new world of movie consumption. In this crazy, ‘all bets are off’ year, HBO can go two ways with their hot property. They can play it safe, and only pursue Emmy and TV movie nominations from the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG. Or — they can challenge the Academy’s long-standing policy which prohibits films debuting on TV from being Oscar eligible.

I hope they chose the latter, because “Bad Education” deserves to compete at the highest level. This is THE BEST motion picture released in theaters, on VOD, streaming platforms or cable in 2020.

“Bad Education” is based on a true story. But to be in position to be truly awed as things unfold, I strongly suggest avoiding as many details as you can. Here’s the basic framework: It’s 2002. Frank Tassone is the Superintendent of Long Island’s Roslyn City School District. Thanks to years of driving-up test scores and college admissions, Tassone’s been able to get Roslyn to the #4 ranking in the nation. His goal is #1.

Allison Janney plays Assistant Superintendent Pamela Gluckin. Pam doesn’t have the same colorful vocabulary as LaVona Harding, but there’s clearly a similar vibe to that “I, Tonya” role that earned Janney her Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2017. The two films also share the same edgy tone and unpredictable structure. Every moment Janney is on screen she’s a knockout. Ray Romano, most recently in “The Irishman”, has a bigger, better role here as Bob Spicer, President of the Roslyn School Board.

This trio (and others) get caught-up in something a little… fishy. And at the center of it all is a student, writing for the high school newspaper. Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan) stumbles onto a story and…

It’s difficult to dissect “Bad Education” without giving too much away. Every scene, every element of Mike Makowsky’s electric screenplay has a purpose — and is worthy of discussion. Makowsky gradually reveals small detail after small detail, holding back some key elements until the final minutes. It’s a brilliant example of restraint. And the attention to realism is uncanny:

teachers/administrators seeking to know as much as they can about their students
wealthy Long Island snobbery
obsession with education budgets
helicopter parents
the enthusiasm and dedication of one ambitious student who’s invested (maybe too much) in the well-being of her school
Another masterstroke was shooting “Bad Education” on film. This, combined with bold visual choices (including a borderline haunting framework), allow director Cory Finley’s vision to soar.

And all the performances rise to the level of the material. Aside from his virtuoso work as Jean Valjean in 2012’s “Les Miserables”, Jackman’s performance here is the best of his career. This is the type of juicy, vibrant, multi-dimensional role that all actors dream of. And Jackman is magnificent, portraying a man obsessed with appearances. But we’re never quite sure what that appearance is hiding.

Late in “Bad Education”, he delivers a monologue that’s now one of my all-time movie favorites. It’s funny, honest, sad — and yet it’s coming out of the month of… well… you’ll see what I mean.

The real-life scandal that inspired “Bad Education” is spellbinding. The movie elevates those events to an exhilarating level. As you’re (hopefully) watching it in your home this weekend (Sat. at 8pm), don’t be fooled. This is THE BEST movie of 2020 to date, and very likely could still hold that title at year’s end.

LCJ GRADE: A

Running Time: 108 min.


Copyright © 2020 Lights Camera Jackson LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map

[jo]

What I like about it is that his superlatives focused most on what a topnotch film should be --

*An excellent storyline and character development
*A finely hewed filmmaking and cinematic technique
*A very strong cast with very strong portrayals

Not what TV movies are all about. But a fine example of movies made for general cinema consumption...and a movie that sounds like ( I haven't seen it ) the kind of movies that helong to AFI lists...and Oscar conversations!


PS:

Most filmmakers will find it hard to find opportunities to make films (which can be costly) and even near to impossible to afford the cost of promotion for movie theatre exhibition, now that we are in a recessionary period. The film industry will be one of the hardest hit and funding will be very, very difficult to get unless it has promise to be a tentpole blockbuster! While there are virtues to screen it in cinemas for sheer beauty ( image and sound)-- it should not preclude the awards-worthiness of a film exhibited on TV. Of course, it will have a disadvantage ( a cinematic experience is superb and entirely different) -- but don't most Oscar voters get to see the films they vote on via screeners, via a TV screen, anyway?? Ironic, huh?


Jo

[jo]

This looks like a revised version of his earlier review coming out of Toronto and submitted to Rotten Tomatoes. Overall rating is the same, though ( B+)


tv.avclub.com/hugh-jackman-delivers-one-of-his-best-performances-in-t-1842927739?utm_campaign=The+A.V.+Club&utm_content=1587412865&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook

The A.V. Club

A.A. Dowd
Today 10:05AM
•
Filed to:
Pre-Air


The first time we see Frank Tassone, the beloved public-school administrator Hugh Jackman plays in Bad Education, he’s striding onto the stage of an auditorium to a roar of applause. It’s his night, a celebration of his achievements—though, as we’ll quickly come to see, he spends most days in the spotlight, too, basking in the admiration of colleagues, students, and parents alike. Frank, who puts the super in superintendent, is head of a Long Island school district that, under his stewardship, has reached the top of the national rankings. Wandering from meeting to meeting in his finely pressed suits, a warm grin perpetually plastered across his face, he has the poise (and popularity) of a Kennedy—and indeed, Frank approaches the job with a politician’s savvy, committing names and interests to memory. But the real key to his success may be that he actually gives a damn. In movie terms, it’s as if one of the carpe diem heroes of an inspirational-teacher drama rose through the ranks, spreading his zeal for education to the whole district.

That, anyway, is how Frank would probably prefer to frame his story. Bad Education tells a different version, ripped from the headlines and shaped into something far removed from the genre of gifted classroom mentors and the young lives they touch. The real Tassone, as some may remember, was at the center of New York’s Roslyn Public Schools scandal, in which a couple of high-ranking administrators embezzled millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Screenwriter Mike Makowsky, who grew up in the community and went to a Rosyln school the year the financial fraud came to light, dramatizes this national news into an engrossing procedural of white-collar crime. Cooking the books may sound like dry subject matter, but the film gives it a jolt of psychological urgency by building a whole house-of-cards narrative around a character of compelling contradiction: a con artist who’s managed to square his genuine commitment to the community (and the future of its children) with his betrayal of it.

Pre-Air
Bad Education
B+
Directed by
Cory Finley
Written by
Mike Makowsky
Starring
Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan, Annaleigh Ashford, Rafael Casal, Ray Romano
Runtime
103 minutes
Debuts
April 25 at 8 p.m. ET on HBO

Bad Education, which premiered at Toronto last fall and airs this week on HBO, takes time and great care laying out the interpersonal dynamics of the school system, before slowly lifting the veil to reveal what few within that system knew or allowed themselves to know. At first, Frank and the district’s business manager, Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney), are depicted mostly as tireless workaholics, all but married to the job—they seem conspiratorial only in their occasional gossip and workplace commiseration. Even as it becomes clear that Frank is living something of a double life, the revelation is humanizing: When a chance encounter with a former student (Blindspotting’s Rafael Casal) during a Las Vegas conference leads back to his hotel room, we discover that it’s more than grief for a wife that died years earlier stopping him from accepting the advances of various single mothers. He may be a pillar of the community, but that doesn’t mean he can reveal himself fully to it.


But Frank’s deception, personal and professional, runs much deeper than who he sleeps with. It spills into a history of casual, habitual malfeasance. Bad Education moves at a thrilling investigative trickle, the full truth taking shape slowly but surely, line by line on a suspicious spreadsheet—it’s like the queasy fabulist exposé of Shattered Glass, transported out of the bullpen and into an academic enclave. In one of the movie’s richest ironies, Frank hastens his own downfall by encouraging the student journalist (Geraldine Viswanathan of Blockers) who ends up breaking the story to really dig into any and every assignment, even a seeming puff piece about the budget for a new skywalk being built for the high school. It’s as if his true investment in the job betrays his self-interests. Of course, the former often covers for the latter, too: When the first glimmers of wrongdoing are discovered, Frank talks the board into a quiet cover-up by invoking the damage it would do to the schools. Like most grifters, he’s a master manipulator, and knows how to prey on someone’s willingness to look the other way if it benefits them.


Cory Finley, the film’s director, launched his career with Thoroughbreds, about two rich girls plotting a murder. Bad Education is less idiosyncratic than that ingenious teen thriller, but it’s not a total departure. Zeroing in again on criminal conspiracy, Finley draws more disquieting links between upward mobility and sociopathy. And while the material calls for less stylistic virtuosity—no camera moves here threaten to overshadow the sharp performances or the plunge into a mundane environment—the director finds places to more subtly assert his sensibility, as in a superb long take where Frank walks the halls of a school, all accusatory eyes finding him. Bad Education also ripples with unforced dark-comic energy, particularly in the ensemble’s tapestry of finely sketched Tri-State personalities, from Ray Romano as the flabbergasted school-board president to American Vandal’s Jimmy Tatro as a knuckleheaded relative whose thoughtless indiscretion sets the dominos in motion.


What Finley and Makowsky find in this infamous scandal is a portrait of rampant rationalization—not just from the perpetrators, twisting themselves into ethical knots to justify their actions, but also from everyone they swindled, willing to ignore what was under their noses because the alternative might threaten their prosperity. At the center of this mosaic is Jackman. Hoodwinking us with his character’s ostensible decency, he plays Frank as a pathological compartmentalizer, capable of completely sectioning off what’s he done from his self-image as a selfless public servant.

There has always been something a little compartmentalized about the star, who seems to oscillate between a seething severity (as in the X-Men movies) and the mega-watt charisma he’s tapped into for musicals and award-show gigs. In Bad Education, Jackman buries the intensity beneath the charm, letting one peek through the cracks in the other. It’s a gripping career-high performance, locating depths of real nuance in the evasions of a charlatan.

**************************************



Compare with his earlier review, after TIFF. Maybe he has seen the movie a second time, hence his revised thoughts on the movie. A.A.Dowd is considered a TOP CRITIC on Rotten Tomatoes .

Dispatch

Toronto International Film Festival

Bad Education
Photo: Toronto International Film Festival



Maybe this didn’t need to be a movie at all. I had my doubts, too, about the cinematic potential of the Roslyn academic scandal, in which it was discovered that a couple of high-ranking administrators of a public school district in New York embezzled millions of taxpayer dollars. But Cory Finley’s Bad Education (Grade: B+) gets some real dramatic juice out of what became a national story, largely by building itself around a compelling personality: district superintendent Frank Tassone, who Hugh Jackman—in one of his most intelligent and complicated performances—portrays as a pathological compartmentalizer, somehow capable of squaring his genuine, inspiring commitment as an educator with his vanity and secretly pursued self-interests. (The movie treats the financial crimes like an extension of the double personal life he was living under the community’s nose.)

I did some squaring of my own watching the film. As a follow-up to Thoroughbreds, Finley’s electrifying first feature, Bad Education is a little disappointing–it’s not nearly as unconventional, at least formally speaking, as his debut. But I’m also fascinated by the elaborate schemes of con artists, and the investigations that expose them. Though its muckraking reporter is just a high-school kid (Geraldine Viswanathan from Blockers), Bad Education boasts an uncovering-the-truth narrative nearly as queasily gripping as that of Shattered Glass. The script, by Mike Makowsky, takes great care to lay out the interpersonal dynamics of the school system, then begins to tear back the veil to reveal what few within that system knew or allowed themselves to see. The strength of Jackman’s performance is that he hoodwinks us with his decency, showing us how Tassone (transgressing in concert with another high-ranking administrator, played here by Allison Janney) hid under the prosperity and prestige he brought to the district, allowing everyone to consciously or unconsciously look the other way, because doing so benefitted them.

[jo]

www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review-hbo-bad-education-paints-an-ambiguous-portrait-of-greed/

TV
Review: HBO’s Bad Education Paints an Ambiguous Portrait of Greed
Though the film needlessly withholds certain details for dramatic effect, the film resists embellishment or caricature.
3 of 4 stars
April 20, 2020
By Steven Scaife

Photo: JoJo Whilden/HBO

Everybody seems to love Dr. Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman), superintendent of the Roslyn, Long Island school district. He’s personable, impeccably groomed, and responsible for getting the district ranked number four in the state. And over the course of HBO’s true-crime film Bad Education, he scrambles to cover up a potential scandal that could torpedo the school board’s budget: Assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney) has been embezzling from the district for years. To complicate matters further, an intrepid school newspaper reporter, Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan), is sniffing around, which might just unearth the wide scope of the operation.

Accompanied by ironic classical music cues, Bad Education paints an unattractive portrait of its main characters. The film’s color palette is muted, and the wrinkles on the actors’ faces are featured prominently in close-ups. Their actions are even less flattering: As ludicrously underpaid as teaching may be, the crass extravagance of the town’s embezzlers is made abundantly clear via house renovations, pieds-à-terre, first-class flights, facelifts, and more—all on the school’s dime, written off as some ambiguous charge from a suspicious company.

Though the film needlessly withholds certain details to artificially pump up the drama through eventual plot twists, Bad Education resists embellishment or caricature. Instead, by probing the truly thankless task of teaching kids while under the thumb of district rankings, school board demands, and an endless parade of antagonistic parents, the film presents educators like Gluckin and Tassone with a surprising degree of sincerity and dedication to their jobs. They remember the names, the parents, the hobbies, and the siblings of all the kids who come through Roslyn. They really did get the place ranked number four.


There is, of course, more to Tassone than his composed, genial exterior suggests, most of which should be left for the audience to discover. And though the embezzlers are explicitly in the wrong, their justifications are not so easily shaken off; they are right, after all, in observing that the director of the school board (Ray Romano) makes seven figures selling real estate with values directly tied to the success of Roslyn, while the teachers and administrators remain underpaid and overworked. Rather than a simplistic, straightforward parable of greed, Bad Education depicts its true events with a surprising amount of depth and ambiguity.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, Rafael Casal, Stephen Spinella, Annaleigh Ashford

[jo]

From Pete Hammond of Deadline.com --

deadline.com/video/bad-education-review-hugh-jackman-and-allison-janney-ray-romano-hbo-true-story/#comments

‘Bad Education’ Review: Hugh Jackman & Allison Janney Brilliant In HBO’s Biting And Bizarre True Story

By Pete Hammond


When Bad Education hit the Toronto International Film Festival in September, it was expected to be one of the hot titles for acquisition and a possible Oscar run in the fall. It certainly was a hot commodity, but the sale surprisingly went to HBO for a sizzling $20 million, and a movie starring Hugh Jackman coming off The Greatest Showman and Allison Janney with an Oscar win for I, Tonya suddenly went from theatrical to television. As it turns out that timing is everything: Theaters are closed, and its debut on the pay cabler Saturday evening should be huge, certain to thrust Jackman and Janney into a very strong position in the Emmy race. This turn of events for Bad Education is as unpredictable as the wild real-life story it tells.


Set more than a decade ago in a tony area of Long Island, Jackman — in a role like you have never seen him play before — is Frank Tassone, superintendent of the Roslyn School District, a snappy dresser beloved by students and their parents who seem to care only how their kids get into Harvard or Yale and know a guy like Tassone can be a big help by making these local LI schools top quality. Janney is Pam Gluckin, his second-in-command who’s always poring over the budgets and receipts. In his office for what she says is a “puff piece” interview for her school paper, budding journalist Rachel (a terrific Geraldine Viswanathan) gets some inspiring advice from Tassone to never settle for easy as he urges her to really dig in and make her story more surprising and hard edged. Be careful what you wish for.

As she goes deeper into reporting what basically was a unrelated subject, Rachel uncovers a whole can of worms that, despite her editor (Alex Wolff) initially offering no encouragement, instead leads right to Gluckin’s office and a case of cooking the books, an apparent use of school funds for her own personal benefit. But it doesn’t stop there as this scandal widens and leads right to Tassone’s door as well, an embezzlement scheme of more than $11 million that threatens to bring down the whole house of cards while becoming the biggest of all time in a public school. Throw in another shocking twist with the revelation that widower Tassone is involved romantically with a former student named Kyle (Rafael Casal), and things just aren’t always what they appear to be on the outside.




Director Cory Finley (Thoroughbreds) takes these incredulous details and weaves a delicate balance of dark comedy and a building thriller as things come apart. The script from Mike Makowsky, a student in the district at the time who witnessed it all happening firsthand, manages to build it expertly as the facts just keep defying reality except that it is, as they say, stranger than fiction. With a never-better Jackman, who rises to new levels here, and Janney delivering another sterling turn, the supporting cast also includes an excellent Ray Romano as the school board president. And all three nail the Long Island accents perfectly.

What makes Bad Education really work is that it never once slips into the tired tropes of these kind of stories, injecting a wry humor, and importantly making it recognizable with all the failings and unpredictability of human nature on full display. When I first saw the film, even before it formally hit Toronto, I knew nothing about it, and when the end credits revealed the actual true origins of the story, it had even more impact. How can you make this stuff up? They didn’t have to.

Producers are Fred Berger (La La Land), Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Julia Lebedev, Oren Moverman, Eddie Vaisman and Makowsky. Check out my video review with scenes from the film at the link above.
Do you plan to see Bad Education? Let us know what you think.

[jo]

www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-hbos-bad-education-offers-hugh-jackman-the-role-of-a-lifetime/

The Globe and Mail

Film Review
HBO’s Bad Education offers Hugh Jackman the role of a lifetime

Barry Hertz

Published April 20, 2020
Updated 11 hours ago


Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney star in HBO's Bad Education.
JoJo Whilden/HBO / Crave
Bad Education
Directed by Cory Finley
Written by Mike Makowsky
Starring Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney and Ray Romano
Classification TV-MA; 103 minutes
rating :3 of 4 stars


I feel that we still haven’t seen the real Hugh Jackman. The Australian actor has built his career on two split personas – the raw, hirsute power of his grumpy superhero alter-ego Wolverine, and the slick song-and-dance man who’s shimmied his way across the big screen (Les Misérables, The Greatest Showman), the small screen (Viva Laughlin), and the stage (Oklahoma, the aw-jeez one-man tribute-to-himself Hugh Jackman in Concert, which made its way to Toronto a few years back).

Every now and then, Jackman dips into Serious Acting exercises but seems so visibly uncomfortable placing himself in such situations that he feels a micro-second from jumping out of his own skin, when he should instead be sinking into someone else’s (see The Fountain, Prisoners, The Front Runner). Maybe it’s the parlour-trick thriller The Prestige which contains Jackman’s best performance, as director Christopher Nolan helps the actor steady himself in a story both serious and silly, in the process melding both sides of the man into one single ornery huckster.

Or perhaps it’s the new film Bad Education where the real Jackman stands up. Director Cory Finley’s dark comedy is old-fashioned in its conception – it’s based on a true story involving embezzlement among high-school educators on Long Island in the early aughts – and execution. There is no attempt at stretching the form like Jackman’s previous Serious Film collaborators Nolan or Denis Villeneuve or Darren Aronofsky, and its stakes feel refreshingly small. Instead, Finley – who tones things down considerably from his highly stylized debut, the 2017 killer-teen comedy Thoroughbreds – walks his audience through a peculiar case of suburban greed, and drills down on character and performance.

Jackman leads Finley’s cast of overly ambitious middle managers as Frank Tassone, the superintendent of Long Island’s Roslyn school district who stole millions from the system, all while trying to outrun a few other secrets and lies, too. An education guru who projects supreme confidence on the outside but can feel his stomach tighten with every false move (of which there are many), Tassone is the kind of slippery character who requires a performer with star power, charisma and a drive to impress, but also a shadow – a shade of shadow, even – of doubt as to whether any of this feels exactly right. Jackman, clearly delighted to be part of the proceedings, nails it. I don’t know how close his Tassone is to the real Tassone, and I don’t much care. Jackman creates a schemer who hoodwinks you into thinking he’s a saint – or a saint who convinces himself he’s a much better schemer. It’s a nervy, captivating double-act.


The cast around Jackman is rich with smart choices, such as Ray Romano as a school board higher-up.
HBO / Crave


Finley graciously surrounds Jackman with a host of other gifted, sometimes similarly misused or overlooked talents, including Allison Janney as a fellow school administrator whose sloppiness while on the take sets the whole scam unravelling, and a delightfully anxious Ray Romano (yes, Ray Romano!) as the school board higher-up who must decide whether one scandal is worth tarnishing an entire education system. Even a bit role, like the one filled by Sopranos comic-relief vet Ray Abruzzo, feels like a finely engineered casting coup.

Crucially, Finley gives everyone space to breathe, and never lets the sometimes outrageous antics of Tassone and company overwhelm the character beats, nor does he insincerely pump up the story to undeservedly zany heights, as might be the temptation with such a tabloid-ready tale. (There is also a neatly handled subplot about the investigative prowess of an overeager high-school journalist; a sure-fire way to get any newspaper writer on board.)

Normally, this is the part of the review I’d reserve to bemoan the fact that the film – which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September before being acquired by HBO – was going to be seen strictly on cable television and not in theatres, where Jackman’s loyal audience could savour one of his finest turns. But since absolutely nothing is making its way to the theatre right now, the cable deal is an accidental act of good timing. And a well-deserved opportunity to soak in, on repeat, the real Hugh Jackman.

Bad Education premieres April 25 at 8 p.m. on HBO/Crave

[jo]

With 39 reviews in at ROTTEN TOMATOES --

BAD EDUCATION has a current rating now of 90%

Very FRESH!

All FRESH Ratings from all 8 TOP CRITICS.

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_education_2019



In comparison --

LOGAN - 93 %

X-MEN : DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - 90 %

X-MEN UNITED (X-MEN 2) - 85 %

EDDIE THE EAGLE - 82 %

X-MEN - 81 %

PRISONERS - 80 %

THE PRESTIGE - 75 %

THE WOLVERINE - 71 %

LES MISERABLES - 69 %

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN - 56 %


Cutoff for FRESH RATING is 60 %

[jo]

www.theonlycritic.com/single-post/2019/09/14/TIFF-2019-Review-Corey-Finelys-excellent-Bad-Education-tackles-worst-school-embezzlement-scam-in-history

Film
Festival
TIFF 2019 Review: Corey Finely's excellent 'Bad Education' tackles worst school embezzlement scam in history

September 24, 2019

Nate Adams

Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival


Comitting crimes to feel like you’re doing something good is the impotence to Corey Finely’s wildly entertaining “Bad Education,” which is based on the 2002 embezzlement scandal that rocked Roslyn High School in Long Island.

A scheme which racked up more than $11.2 million dollars in total damages to the school district, the film is adapted by former student, Mike Makowksy, who witnessed the ordeal first hand and marks something of a unique turn for Finely, whose last film “Thoroughbreds” was an off-beat and strange indie that barely reached a wide audience.

“Bad Education,” on the other hand, is far less polarizing and has the star power to attract eyeballs - and garnered much praise from those attending the Toronto Film Festival - and while “Thoroughbreds” was heavy in fictionalized satire, in his second feature Finely has to site actual sources, resulting in an engaging slow-burn investigative thriller sprinkled with hefty comic touches and represents the type of ace mid-budget adult targeted film missing from the current theatrical marketplace.

Digging deeper into his characters and showing great poise as a rising filmmaker, Finley’s “Bad Education” starts deconstructing this insane narrative from the top with one Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman), the beloved Roslyn School District superintendent who acts as a miracle worker for overzealous parents and always finds the correct phrasing for inspirational pep talks to moopy students. He’s assisted by Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney who’s terrific with her thick accent) the manager of the business office next door with the pesky school board president Bob Spicer (Ray Romano doing exactly what Ray Romano does) constantly sniffing around.

With his dry cleaned suits, concealer makeup, and somewhat refined demeanor, Frank seems like a schmuck eagerly hiding something; and to his credit, Jackman slips into the role perfectly with his beady eyes, and Charles Dickens novel in hand to showcase how far his sophistication goes. Initially, the film seems a bit mute on the whole conspiracy, but instead focuses on Frank’s mission to get Rosyln number one in the region. He’s got the determination and attitude to make it happen, as students are getting accepted to Ivy league schools at record rates. What could possibly go wrong?

But his advice to an eager school reporter named Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan - excellent) about turning the puff piece she’s writing on a planned school renovation morphs into something much bigger, and the young sleuth begins to unravel an entire can of worms. If anything, “Bad Education” should teach audiences the power of journalism at any and all levels.

So while Rachel is off digging in the trenches (or the archive closet in the school’s basement) things are falling apart at the administrative level, as we learn that Frank has been dipping his hand in the proverbial cookie jar with lavish trips and starting a fling with an old student (Rafael Casal) in Vegas. Meanwhile, Pam has been using the official school credit card to make some pricey home improvements to her house in the Hampton's. Not exactly “official” business if you know what I mean.

Finely has a great time showing the demise and downfall of these buffoons who are in a tug of war with a moral compass. They constantly think they’re doing what’s right for the students, yet are doing more harm than good. It’s equally fun watching Jackman get wound up when pushed into a corner about his illicit activities. The irony being he’s quick to offer advice to those who seek it, but isn’t afraid to stab you in the back when his own flaws are pointed out.


This all culminates in a terrific operatic crescendo that’s tragically poetic in all the best ways, “Bad Education” doesn’t take the easy way out and Finely garner's real mileage out of his cast. Especially Jackman whose more a big Hollywood star than a character actor, and that’s what makes his turn here all the more remarkable.

It doesn’t hurt the script has snappy dialogue and doesn't use its subject matters as a parody of the system. Instead, “Bad Education” showcases how dumb people will find anyway to rationalize their actions, no matter the consequences.


Grade: A-

Bad Education will be released by HBO Films sometime in 2020 and the film was screened as a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

[jo]

brieftake.com/bad-education-review/

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Bad Education Review
written by Daniel Reynolds April 22, 2020
4 of 5 stars

We know something is off about Frank Tassone, the Roslyn district school superintendent, first glimpsed primping himself in a mirror. He’s the central character in Bad Education, directed by Cory Finley and written by (former Roslyn student) Mike Makowsky. And since their film is about corruption in that school system, we expect some broader criminality too. But therein lies its main tension: Frank is played with radiant charm by Hugh Jackman. We want to trust him.

Watching Frank work, we understand how and why he’s earned the school district’s top position. He knows how to make everyone—from parents, former students, to school board chief Bob Spicer (Ray Romano)—feel good. With his slick hair and sharp suits, Frank cuts an inspirational (and aspirational) figure. Jackman easily portrays him as such, using all of his talents to subtly bring us under his thrall. As the Roslyn house of cards starts to collapse behind some malfeasance with his number two, Pam (Allison Janney with a Noo-Yawk accent), and through the dutiful work of student journalist, Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan), we wonder how Frank could be involved. As Bad Education makes clear, however: if you attended or worked at—or even lived in the area of—a school with a crooked administration, that would affect you too. Even if, yes, it had nothing to do with you. Finley’s careful touch understands that principle as he teases out the links between one motive and another, all on their way back to Frank.

It’s easy to see what drew HBO to Bad Education, and also how it could struggle to find broader attention.Jackman’s performance is one that resists absurdity, even as he and the film curdle into a banal type of evil. To Finley’s credit, his film remains level, avoiding a tempting tilt towards farce. The final effect is smaller and truer to life, providing a flip-side proof to Maya Angelou’s most memorable lesson instead. If we should believe people when they show us who they are, then we should also remember: when people hide who they are, run away.


Alex WolffAllison JanneyAnnaleigh AshfordBad EducationCatherine CurtinCory FinleyGeraldine ViswanathanHBOHugh JackmanMike MakowskyRafael CasalRay RomanoThoroughbredsTIFF19

[jo]

The editor in chief of RogerEbert.com is repeating what he said in Toronto --

[jo]

From Singapore --

www.tnp.sg/entertainment/movies/review-jackman-shines-bad-education

Movies
Review: Jackman shines in Bad Education

Jonathan Roberts
Digital Editor
Review
Apr 22, 2020 06:00 am


Every so often, Hugh Jackman likes to remind us that he has other speeds outside of gruff intensity and sparkly musical.
Comedy-drama film Bad Education sees him give a brilliant performance.

Based on real events, Jackman plays Frank Tassone, a school administrator who is so close to perfect, you know something has to be wrong.

He is doing great things for the schools, improving facilities and grades, and beloved by teachers, colleagues and parents. He is humble and knows all the students' names, past and present. He also seems frugal.
A true leader and the nicest guy in the world – on the surface.

Early on, displaying his great love of his job by encouraging all, he tells one student journalist (played by Geraldine Viswanathan) that her article on a new school building is only a puff piece if she lets it be one.


At which point, you know his gift for inspiration has just set his empire to topple.
That student journalist starts digging – and discovering.

Bad Education could be a companion piece to Jackman's 2018 political drama The Front Runner, and it is also close to the 2003 film Shattered Glass –both of which are true stories about seemingly upstanding people caught in their own lie.

As Tassone's private and public worlds crumble, so does his veneer of patience and nicety.


There are hints to his vanity. The real Tassone must be over the moon with Jackman playing him.


The fascinating thing is that Tassone and his similarly embezzling colleague Pam Gluckin (the ever excellent Allison Janney) were both genuinely committed to improving education, giving their all for the Long Island school district under their care.


But more than US$11 million (S$16 million) was found to be stolen in the scandal.
Gluckin is portrayed as having fallen along the way.

With Tassone, it is hard to say which came first –the educator or the con man.
But there's no doubt he's a sociopath.

But it is also a case of everyone was happy to ignore the signs until they weren't.
Director Cory Finley's use of camera angles heightens the tension and he brings moments of dark humour to Mike Makowsky's script.

Yet, it is Jackman that really makes this work. It is great to see him run through the emotions, showing a desperate man internally clawing for the right words to talk his way out.

Bad Education is Hugh Jackman at his best.

SCORE: 4/5

FILM: Bad Education
STARRING: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan, Ray Romano, Alex Wolff
DIRECTOR: Corey Finley

THE SKINNY: Upright school administrator Frank Tassone (Jackman) is found to be behind the largest school embezzlement scandal in US history.
RATING: M18
SHOWING: April 26, 8am on HBO Go, with a same-day telecast at 10pm on HBO (StarHub TV Ch 601/Singtel TV Ch 420)

All this fulsome praise for Hugh Jackman... sadly, wasted on a small viewing screen

Jo

[jo]

This is NOT strictly a review of the film --

but very insightful comments ( even pointed) from a former teacher at Roslyn High! Lessons to be learned are important part of her story.

qz.com/1837891/hbos-bad-education-reviewed-by-a-former-roslyn-high-teacher/

courtesy of HBO
Who’s schooling who?
GETTING SCHOOLED
The high school in “Bad Education” rings true. I know because I taught there myself
April 23, 2020

By Holly Ojalvo
Talent Lab editor
From our Obsession
Being Human

We’ve never been as connected, or as isolated.

In 1999, I began my teaching career at a high school in a well-off district where most of the students drove cars much nicer than mine. In many ways, it was a dream job: The school was among the most highly ranked in the country, in an upscale town in the New York City metropolitan area, and the pay was excellent. But soon I started feeling that something was off. I wanted out, as soon as possible, and left after just a year. It wasn’t long before I learned my discomfort was justified.

That’s because the school was Roslyn High School on Long Island. If that name sounds familiar at all, it’s probably not because of its national ranking, but because, just a couple of years after my departure, a scandal started coming to light, ultimately revealing that over the course of a decade, administrators stole and misdirected over $11 million from the district. Now that story, the biggest school embezzlement case in US history, is retold in the new movie Bad Education, starring Hugh Jackman as Frank Tassone, the corrupt superintendent, and Allison Janney as his partner in crime and assistant superintendent, Pam Gluckin. It premieres on HBO on April 25.



The crimes of Bad Education are unraveled through an investigation by student reporter Rachel Bhargava, and although the character and her scoop are based only loosely on real life, it calls to mind great journalism movies, like a student version of Spotlight. It’s also a delicious true-crime story about a brazen con man who breaches trust, like a smaller-time Bernie Madoff. And it’s a morality tale about the fine and blurry lines between ambition and greed; in a lesser performance, Tassone, a former English teacher turned entitled grifter, could have seemed merely pathetic or simply evil, but Jackman makes him a complex antihero with a Shakespearean tragic flaw.



The film—written by Mike Makowsky, who himself grew up in Roslyn and attended its schools—wants us to see that the school board and even the families of Roslyn were not innocently blindsided, as portrayed in local news media at the time, but effectively complicit, setting the stage for Tassone and Gluckin. In Makowsky’s telling, the Roslyn scandal wasn’t a simple case of opportunism, greed, or even, as suggested in the movie, sociopathy. The tone of venality was set by the community, in the form of hunger for the higher property values and college pedigrees conferred by its prestigious schools. The context for the crimes is a wealthy, self-impressed school board whose members are initially okay with hushing up grand larceny to protect their own interests.

The movie evokes another case in the headlines involving ethically compromised parents: the college admissions scandal that led to the convictions of celebrities Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. Roslyn’s parents aren’t glamorous—Bad Education casts them in a harsh light with strong Long Island accents, overprocessed hair, and nouveau-riche taste—nor do they sink to tactics like padding their children’s resumes with fake extracurriculars or cheating on the SAT’s on their behalf. But it’s not hard to see how you get from here to there.

Crucially, at the basis of both scandals lies the belief that a good education is the ticket to success. But what does it mean to be a “good” school, or a “good” educator, or a “good” student? In movie Roslyn, good equals prestige, in the form of national rankings, Ivy League acceptance rates, pedigreed teachers, and fancy bells and whistles. Those include the useless capital project that ultimately leads Rachel, the budding student journalist, to the thieving Tassone and Gluckin.


That their malfeasance is exposed by an ambitious student is played for light irony—in an early scene, Tassone encourages her to ask hard questions and do real reporting. For a schools superintendent who prioritizes shallow initiatives designed to keep parents happy when he isn’t off spending the money he got raiding the school budget, it ends up being quite an effective lesson. His undoing is his own doing.

While many details and players from the case have been fictionalized for the screen, I can attest that it all rings true. One minor character, a pushy mother who blindly believes her underachieving son is gifted and deserves to have rules bent for him to succeed, reminds me of people I met in real-life Roslyn, where I played out variations on this scene over and over. Parents routinely pressured teachers to let students retake tests, do extra credit, and revise essays. Some even looked the other way when their children cheated. (One father, after I’d caught his son plagiarizing, shrugged off the charges, pointing out that “the president doesn’t write his own speeches.” He could have been a bit character in the movie.) Ultimately, a struggle over what I perceived as institutionalized grade inflation is what finally pushed me to take another job.


Though I interacted only a few times with Tassone himself, and never, to my memory, with Gluckin, their movie versions felt eerily spot on. Though he’s better looking and less creepy than the real Tassone, Jackman pretty much nails him. Watching him drive up to the school in his Mercedes in the movie took me right back to the same scene 20 years ago. Even the blocky, harshly lit office and school buildings look just how they do in my memory. And as in the film, some students relished a spot on the staff of the Hilltop Beacon newspaper mostly because it looked good on college applications.

But the characters in Bad Education are so expertly drawn, the thorny issues so well teased out, and the path to discovery so rewarding, that a personal connection is hardly needed to appreciate it. For me, it adds an extra layer, but there are plenty of depths to plumb without it. Still, if, as you watch—and you should, as the film is engrossing and thought-provoking—you find yourself questioning whether these people were really anything like this in real life, I can tell you the answer is yes, yes, they were.

[jo]

www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/23/bad-education-hugh-jackman-hbo?CMP=twt_a-culture_b-gdnculture

This review is seeking another agenda! He has this idea of who Hugh Jackman is and by writing what he did he is trying to pin down who Hugh really is, according to his own wishes and perceptions! He is not reviewing BAD EDUCATION! He is reviewing the persona of Hugh Jackman and trying to fit him into his preconceived mold

He even alleges that Hugh keeps everything close to his chest...and that he harbors many personal secrets and that what the public see is only a façade

Has he ever considered that Hugh Jackman is really what you see, even if he is too good to be true? An unfailing portrait of a good man!


You can feel it in his daily activities and what he says and what he does - as he once told an overly excited and speechless fan at the TBFO stagedoor --

"Don't be nervous -- it's only me!"

[jo]

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/hbos-bad-education-is-a-reminder-of-how-great-a-made-for-tv-movie-can-be/2020/04/22/0700126a-84bb-11ea-ae26-989cfce1c7c7_story.html

HBO’s ‘Bad Education’ is a reminder of how great a made-for-TV movie can be

Hugh Jackman plays Frank Tassone opposite Allison Janney’s Pam Gluckin in “Bad Education.” (HBO)

By
Hank Stuever
TV critic
April 23, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. GMT+8

The definition of “movie” is increasingly difficult to nail down, especially for those of us who concentrate on television. Netflix and other streaming networks make movies of all genres that are meant to compete with box-office theatrical releases; to help qualify for film awards, like the Oscars, Netflix even established its own theater for New York screenings. But most viewers experience a Netflix movie at home, on their TV screens, where the existential question persists: is it TV or is it a movie?

And where does that leave the good ol’ made-for-TV movie, which is its own species entirely? Lifetime and Hallmark still churn them out by the metric ton, but beyond that, the drop-off has been sharp.


Distribution rights for director Cory Finley’s “Bad Education” may have been purchased at a film festival last year by HBO, but despite its intended destination, can we just enjoy it as an honest-to-goodness, Emmys-for-everyone, made-for-TV movie in the old-fashioned way?


Based on the true story of a Long Island schools superintendent, Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman), and his trusted assistant superintendent, Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney), who were convicted of stealing several million dollars from their highly ranked school district, “Bad Education” is one of those mesmerizing character studies centered on despicable acts.
It’s a crime story that doesn’t need violence to get the viewer’s heart racing. Even if you know where it’s headed (you can always look up the in-depth 2004 New York magazine article on which Mike Makowsky’s perfectly taut screenplay is based), “Bad Education” is structured around a series of inexorable, scandalous discoveries — all of it starting with a question from an enterprising high school newspaper reporter (Geraldine Viswanathan).

Jackman, who often has to remind the world just how good an actor he really is, gives an effective and moving performance as Tassone, a beloved administrator who justifies his wrongdoings against his many successes. And it almost goes without saying that Janney is in her element here, playing someone who feels entitled to repeat raids of the cookie jar.


Such stories of quiet malfeasance never get old. No matter how lovely and admired the neighborhood lawns may be, the idea that there’s a snake or two in the grass hasn’t lost its narrative potency — even now, in an era of constant, top-down deceit.

Bad Education (110 minutes) airs Saturday at 8 p.m. on HBO, with encores.

The movie was never intended to be arrayed with all the Hallmark type of movies that the critic must be longing for - straightforward personal or small town or family dramas that resonate with old-time values. If I remember right, Hallmark Theatre movies generally left one with positive feelings.

Bad Education was born of a Black List choice ( excellent script, as voted upon by Hollywood producers et al,) with excellent character studies, in a crime thriller/ black comedy that happened in a community that was also part of the story/crime. It is like other indie movies - a well-made artistic effort with a cinematic focus on particular events that betray the real underbelly of a community, led by characters whose façade hid their real lives or motives. Hallmark movies were never known for unusual character studies.

Sorry if I have a wrong perception - but that is how I see the comparison.

What happened to the Bad Education project could very well be the stuff that makes for a good indie movie! The characters are the project proponents ( led by Endeavor Content), the producers/financiers. the creatives, the cast, and the people/community being portrayed...an acquirer of film rights hungry for more prestige/honors...and a virus that drove stealthily in the night ( lol - sorry for the exaggeration)...and an Oscar chance that got away


Jo

[jo]

[jo]

www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/23/arts/high-marks-hugh-jackman-bad-education/

TELEVISION REVIEW
High marks for Hugh Jackman in ‘Bad Education’

By Matthew Gilbert Globe Staff,Updated April 23, 2020, 55 minutes ago


Hugh Jackman (left) and Ray Romano in a scene from the HBO film "Bad Education."HBO via AP

In HBO’s enjoyable “Bad Education,” Hugh Jackman’s Frank Tassone is a blend of life coach, beloved parish priest, and steely Mafia don. He’s handsome, finely dressed, and articulate — there’s almost a twinkle when he smiles — and, thanks to his aggressive charm, he generally gets what he wants. It’s the early 2000s, and he’s superintendent of the Roslyn, N.Y., school district on Long Island, which is a position of great cachet. Thanks to his gifts of persuasion, along with his ability to remember the names of students and their demanding parents, he has transformed the school system into a powerhouse. Not only are the kids getting into good colleges, the local real estate values have risen nicely as a result of his work.

When his friend and assistant superintendent for business, Allison Janney’s Pam Gluckin, is caught embezzling money, Frank fights hard to keep it quiet. He encourages the school board members (led by Ray Romano’s board president) to handle it outside of the law, lest an ensuing media brouhaha undo the progress he has spearheaded. Of course none of them knows that Frank has personal reasons for stemming an investigation — reasons that high school student journalist Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan) catches wind of as she writes a piece on the school’s proposed skywalk.



The irony, one of many in this carefully made film? When Rachel tells Frank she’s writing a puff piece, he plays the mentor as usual, telling her, “It’s only a puff piece if you let it be a puff piece.” His generous bit of advice will cost him more than he knows.


I don’t want to give too much away, but I think you probably get the gist of “Bad Education,” which is based on a real-life scandal. It’s a small and economical movie, but not slight, as it gives us a good taste of the banality of greed and entitlement, never turning its compromised characters into easily dismissed comic monsters. Written by Mike Makowsky and directed by Cory Finley, it shows us just how good Frank is at his job and just how much he cares about his young charges, before it lets us discover the extent of his vanity and self-serving needs. Finley and Makowsky achieve a tone that swings expertly between pathos and dark humor, not least of all when they invite us to consider Frank’s ultimate point of view. In a profession built on giving to others, he bitterly believes that if those working in the school system were more justly rewarded with prestige, and if they earned as much money as the parents they serve, he might have been less needy.
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Jackman is better than ever as Frank. He uses his own appeal as a celebrity wisely — at first to lend authenticity to Frank’s generosity toward the students, parents, and teachers, later to remind us how deceptive appealing surfaces can be. He doesn’t bring us on a journey into the specifics of Frank’s fractured psyche; he mostly gestures toward Frank’s buried rage and denial, a withholding approach that fits the character perfectly. At first, you might find yourself admiring the elegance Jackman brings to Frank and his mien, as we see a perfectly coiffed man who’s always in control. But by the end, that same quality is discomfiting, a pretentious suit of armor. Janney is also excellent, if not as central as Jackman. She’s simultaneously funny with her brash Long Island accent and chilling as a materialistic woman who’s a survivor at any cost.


BAD EDUCATION
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Stephen Spinella, Annaleigh Ashford, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, Ray Abruzzo, Rafael Casal
On: HBO. Premieres Saturday at 8 p.m.

[jo]

[jo]

From Peter Travers of ROLLING STONE … who thinks Hugh deserved an Oscar nomination for this role!

Home
Movies
Movie Reviews
April 23, 2020 1:46PM ET


The Perfect-Life Facade Crumbles Fantastically in ‘Bad Education’

Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney shine in their roles as New York school administrators who stole millions from their Long Island school district

By Peter Travers



Truth trumps fiction once again in Bad Education, Cory Finley’s whipsmart and wickedly fascinating take on a 2002 scandal about trusted educators who embezzled more than $11 million from the public-school system in Long Island, New York. A stellar Hugh Jackman, like you’ve never seen him (or Wolverine) before, tackles the complex role of Long Island school superintendent Frank Tassone, a hero in the posh district for making Roslyn High fourth in the country by getting top seniors into Ivy League colleges, which brings cheers from parents and students — he knows all their names — and ups the real-estate value of the neighborhood. Everybody wins.


Maybe that’s why no one notices right away that Tassone and his assistant superintendent for business, Pam Gluckin (the ever-amazing Allison Janney), have their hands in the kitty. The exception is Rachel (a terrific Geraldine Viswanathan of Blockers), a sophomore used to writing puff pieces for the school paper. It’s Tassone, of all people, who urges Rachel to act like a real journalist and ask hard questions. That’s when Rachel discovers discrepancies in the competing bids to build a $7.2 million skywalk for Roslyn High. Where do you get that kind of dough when the school ceilings are leaking? It’s just the tip of the iceberg for a bigger fraud being perpetrated on taxpayers.



Working from a devilishly clever and detailed script by Mike Makowsky (I Think We’re Alone Now), who was himself a student at Roslyn Middle School at the time, Finley dodges the banal trap of pointing fingers to investigate how venality happens, especially to good guys. And that’s what Tassone and Gluckin once were, back in their day as underpaid servants of the public trust who had to stand by and watch as the fat cats — such as the school board president (a dynamite Ray Romano) — raked in salaries that hit the million mark. If you’re Tassone, you start by charging a quick pizza to the school credit card before you move on to European vacation trips on the Concord, paying off your mortgage, and dressing in designer duds that edge you out of the classroom and into the corridors of power. Without ever condoning criminality, Finley astutely traces its roots. In his striking 2017 debut film Thoroughbreds, Finley showed how quickly two teen girls could go from fantasizing about murder to the real thing.


All credit to Jackman for digging deep into the human side of Tassone, a closeted gay who keeps a photo of his late, alleged wife on his desk to discourage amorous mothers. A furtive lifestyle came early to Tassone who lives in Manhattan, away from prying eyes, with his age-appropriate life partner (Stephen Spinella) while supporting a former student (Blindspotting’s Rafael Casal) he hooked up with during a school convention in Vegas. The younger man, an exotic dancer-turned-bartender, flatters Tassone’s youthful sense of himself, which he maintains with facelifts and Botox treatments paid for by the same creative book-keeping that Gluckin uses to remodel her houses and keep family members on the payroll.
As it happens, it’s Gluckin who gets nailed first and Tassone who throws her under the bus, spinning the facts to clear himself and to buy her silence by making sure she keeps her pension even after she’s canned. His argument to the board is that a scandal of this magnitude would kill the school’s hard-won prestige and end its days as a cash cow for the entire community. The cover-up is a hustle on par with P.T. Barnum, the famed promoter who Jackman played in The Greatest Showman. But the board members go along with it, accomplices in their own defeat.


Ironically, it’s Rachel’s expose in the school paper that brings down Tassone’s house of cards. And Finley tracks the ruination without hype or mealy-mouthed moralizing. Jackman could have parodied Tassone as a pathetic sadsack, Instead he lets us see a man who truly dedicated himself to his school and the students he once taught literature from Shakespeare to Salinger. Tassone’s tragic flaw is hubris, the feeling that he could talk his way out of anything.

Not this time. You can Google what happened to Tassone after his conviction. No spoilers needed since Jackman lets you see the loss and devastation in his every look and gesture. It’s a career-best performance from a movie star with a genuine actor’s depth and range. Bad Education is going directly to HBO on April 25th, which means Academy rules will deny Jackman the Oscar nomination he so richly deserves. In the end, the audience is rewarded with a steadily riveting provocation that jabs at the culture of money that makes us all complicit.

What if...

Fate throws in its hand …

And AMPAS decides that all movies that had to be streamed ( in relation to the current environment) at least for 2020 should be deemed eligible for yearend honors. Given that studios have already been busily postponing theatrical releases mostly to 2021 and beyond, it is going to be an empty tank this year.


Jo

[jo]

Perfect FRESH Ratings from all 13 Top Critics!


www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_education_2019/reviews?type=top_critics


Sorry, NYTimes and Wall Street Journal have subscription walls to view full review


Jo

[jo]

Caught part of the NYTimes review before being blocked by the subscription wall.

Critic’s Pick
‘Bad Education’ Review: Adding Fraud to the Curriculum
Hugh Jackman is darkly charismatic as the real-life schools superintendent who admitted to stealing $2 million from his Long Island district.


Allison Janney and Hugh Jackman in “Bad Education.”
Credit...
HBO Films
By Ben Kenigsberg
April 23, 2020, 11:59 a.m. ET


Bad Education
NYT Critic's Pick
Directed by Cory FinleyComedy, Drama1h 43m
Find Tickets
When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

“Thoroughbreds,” the 2018 debut feature of the playwright Cory Finley, was not to every taste, but for acid wit and gliding camera moves, it could hardly be beat. Finley’s second feature, “Bad Education,” which airs Saturday night on HBO, traffics in a kindred casual misanthropy. The movie offers an agreeably slick account of an early-2000s scandal in which a former superintendent of schools in Roslyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty to stealing $2 million from his district.

And like the character played by Hugh Jackman, the superintendent Frank Tassone, “Bad Education” initially keeps its cards close, playing tricks with viewers’ sympathies.

Frank, his hair gelled back and his face always wrenched into a grin, goes out of his way to be presentable. He remembers details about students from years earlier or recognizes their siblings. He meets with a parent who pushes for accelerated treatment for her third-grader. He maintains (or at least fakes) an interest in the lives of his teachers. He even welcomes an unscheduled interview with a school newspaper reporter, Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan), encouraging her to dig deeper on a story about a school construction boondoggle. This, it turns out, is one of his less sharp moves. (The real-life student journalist who helped break the story of the scandal wrote about her experiences for The New York Times.)

Part of the strength of “Bad Education” is in showing how easily Frank gets others to sign on to his plans. When it comes to light that a fellow administrator, Pam (Allison Janney), has dipped into the district’s finances to the tune of more than $200,000, Frank is, at first, able to contain the fallout by noting the impact bad press would have. College admissions, property values, a forthcoming budget vote — all would be in jeopardy. For a brief time, Pam looks like the central player in the thefts, rather than one piece of a puzzle.


The 2004 New York Magazine article on which the film is based asked whether Roslyn residents allowed themselves to be duped by Tassone. The film, which adheres to the reporting with reasonable fidelity, is, at most, slightly more charitable in its assessment. (Ray Romano, terrific as the school board president, is an island of humanity in the sea of backbiting and self-interest.)

Continuation not available

[jo]

UPDATE

Even before the movie is screened on HBO, it has already been certified FRESH by Rotten Tomatoes --


www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_education_2019

91%
TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 54

Still Perfect FRESH Scores from all 15 TOP CRITICS!

Watch out LOGAN

Apr 21, 2020 0:43:32 GMT -5 jo said:

With 39 reviews in at ROTTEN TOMATOES --

BAD EDUCATION has a current rating now of 90%

Very FRESH!

All FRESH Ratings from all 8 TOP CRITICS.

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_education_2019



In comparison --

LOGAN - 93 %

X-MEN : DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - 90 %

X-MEN UNITED (X-MEN 2) - 85 %

EDDIE THE EAGLE - 82 %

X-MEN - 81 %

PRISONERS - 80 %

THE PRESTIGE - 75 %

THE WOLVERINE - 71 %

LES MISERABLES - 69 %

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN - 56 %


Cutoff for FRESH RATING is 60 %

[jo]