Teacher of the Year (2015)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The Netflix rating for this movie is one out of five stars. It rates five out of five on Rotten Tomatoes, and 5.3 out of 10 here on IMDb. The fact that the reviews are all over the place almost surely reflects Americans' ambivalence about teachers and public schools (or charter schools that are publicly funded, like the one represented here). My husband and I, both longtime educators, thought that this mockumentary was the most authentic representation of our profession that we have seen. Teaching is tough. It's tough when your students do not respond to your efforts, and, yes, it is even tough when you are "Teacher of the Year."Not that this is a humorless drama...not at all. It is hilarious because it captures how completely awkward and totally out of the box each day is when you work in this type of school. The teachers in this film display the full range of creativity, grit, anger, envy, compassion and depleted ego that comes with a high-intensity, socially essential job that is often completely disrespected and poorly remunerated.

Aah the forever neglected school education system. Its almost criminal how media overlooks the state of schools and teachers despite the fact that they play such substantial role in every kid's life. Films are often made on legendary educators and coaches (like Monalisa Smile, Dead Poet's Society, Coach Carter or even School of Rock) but those are highly dramatic tales of teachers either in extraordinary situations or creating extraordinary situations. Films rarely capture the ground reality of an everyday teacher's humdrum life. Truth is that majority of teachers employed by the schools are just doing their work as a day job and they really don't have the bandwidth nor the energy to get past the classroom let alone give individual attention to the students. That's physically not possible in countries like India where there are 60-70 students per class. Teacher of the Year tells a grim reality of modern day school education, albeit with humor and kudos for that.Teaching is a thankless job but it is also devoid of dignity these days. Stuck amidst bureaucracy and bad parenting, teachers are expected to keep their calm, be nurturing to their students and also be prepared to take the blame if anything goes wrong. The management's apathy towards teachers is heartbreaking, the mediocrity in classrooms is mind numbing, the nepotism for promotions and favours is deafening. "Are you here for the kids?" asks one teacher in the film. That question goes to all. Parents don't have time for their kids but they expect a teacher to mend their kids. Many parents come from a belief that since they pay the tuition fee, they've hired a patsy for their mistakes. ____________Some Spoilers Ahead_____________Public school English teacher Mitch Carter is right in the middle of a big career shift as he finds it tough to decide whether he should keep at his low paying yet fulfilling job or should he move on to work in the interest of rich kids as a lobbyist for independent schools. "Basically everything that I've fought against" as Mitch puts it. The money they're offering is good. "Opportunities like these don't come by everyday" as Mitch's wife confesses with a bit of reluctance as she mentally prepares to adjust to new lifestyle. Mitch, his wife and his little daughter haven't lived a day apart but this new job will keep him travelling constantly. Common men are at times so worried to take such big steps. Its true, family comes first to good people but the economic realities of our times are worse than the proverbial devil. Mitch decides to take up the new job after an unfortunate incident involving his fellow teacher and the school management. ______________end of spoilers___________________Despite the blatant reference to Spinal Tap, Teacher of the Year would never be remembered in the same way because unlike rocknroll and rock stars very few people care about public school system and teachers. Although it is my personal wish that this should be preserved by the academy much like Spinal Tap because this mockumentary talks about a subject in a time that is both massively relevant as well as deeply concerning. Just the way how Edge from U2 wept while watching Spinal Tap, my mom didn't laugh while watching Teacher of the Year. She's a high-school teacher for past 20 years. I don't need to say anymore.

I really enjoyed this film because, as a teacher, I recognized archetypes and situations and felt that the writers had a good sense of the craziness that is teaching in high school. However, I found that the political issues surrounding public vs. private/independent vs. charter are glossed over and dealt with in a single scene, yet they expect intellectual investment from the audience without true discussion.I also saw a serious rift between two separate aspects in the film. Thee is a serious plot, and a serious subplot. Questions of unions and stakeholders, finances and resources are all there. And, yes, there is a little bit of humor in there. But then there are the supporting characters, the other teachers who are so criminally negligent and ridiculous in what they do that it undercuts any realism in the major story arc. Yes, in a school some teachers are eccentric and if this mockumentary wants to show a teacher singing a silly song in class in an effort to increase scores, then that's great. But then, to show a teacher making students cry repeatedly, or counselors endorsing alcohol and drugs? That makes for a great moment in a complete parody, but not in a film which purports to show the serious side of things.This film owes much to the Christopher Guest/Harry Shearer/Michael McKean/Rob Reiner school of films. The dry, low key humor and scenes that are just a touch awkward (one character actually references Spinal Tap). But then it also tries to be the movie "Teachers" (Nick Nolte) with its hard moral choices and complex central character and also "Police Academy" with its wacky and zany supporting players.The good parts were great, the dumb parts were silly, but the movie was not a cohesive whole.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie, but I actually liked it a lot. One of the better "Mockumentary" style films I have seen, and possibly one of my favorites.Basically Keegan Micheal Key is hilarious as Principal Douche, and the other supporting comedic actors keep it funny, but at the heart of it is a very good story with some depth too which made me want to find out what would happen next. As a "Mockumentary" though it is not a typical style comedy with typical style jokes every minute. It has some serious moments, but plenty of funny stuff too. Making it one of the better Mockumentaries in many years in my opinion.Do not expect a typical film and let it take you where it will go, very funny and really well done.