Running Time: 1hr 33mins
Rating: 3/5 stars
TV director Craig Zisk makes his cinematic debut with an indie romantic comedy. “The English Teacher” freshly oils a humble gear of the Hollywood machine too often neglected by the larger engines of bombastic CGI and needless re-makes. For the originality and effort Mr. Zisk and writers Dan and Stacy Chariton, thank you.
Respected yet spinsterly high school teacher Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) has given up on men. To every man she encounters she issues a grade, as though each were a classroom assignment. Most receive a barely-passing or failing mark in the prospective romance arena. It’s no wonder she prefers the company of books and the passionate circumstances of fictional characters.
As fate would have it, her opinion of men would change, if but briefly, when a former student, Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano), returns to town, having failed in his quest to become a successful playwright in New York City. Convinced of his brilliance, Sinclair persuades him to let her and the high school’s drama teacher, played by Nathan Lane, mount a production of his NYU thesis play entitled “The Chrysalis”. Sinclair’s efforts are soon beleaguered by a storm of controversy when it becomes public knowledge that she had had a romantic indiscretion with Sherwood and that, unbeknownst to him, she had agreed to change the play’s tragically bloody ending in order to make the production suitable for a high school performance. Yes, the show does go on, but at great personal cost, and the dowdy life of Linda Sinclair’s life would undergo its own bookworm-like transformation.
The casting is spot on and performances by Moore, Angarano and Greg Kinnear, who plays Sherwood’s father, are easy to enjoy. Expertly, Lane continues to play himself. The story sells itself as a romantic comedy, but really is only book-ended by the romanic aspects. Soon after Sherwood’s likable introduction, the bulk of the narrative begins playing out erratically, with the storyline taking sharp turns with unexpected events. The effect is, in one sense, welcomely unpredictable, but the film loses coherency as the characters hollow out to become puppets of the rapidly changing circumstances – reactionary caricatures as opposed to real. The film feels rushed and could have benefitted from adding more “flesh to the bones” like subplots and opportunities to watch the characters live in their circumstances. In trying to keep a romantic comedy pace, too much is clipped. So, the audience is dragged along bemusedly by the 180 of Jason Sherwood and the swift destruction of Linda’s former life. Eventually we return where we so promisingly began: to the life and romantic involvements of Linda Sinclair.
Despite the problems, enough about the film works, and the enjoyment out-weighs the flaws. In this parched land bereft of non-formulaic films, even the faintest perfume of originality will blow sweetly.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.movieweb.com/movie/the-english-teacher
http://www.englishteachermovie.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2055765/combined
