Following his darkly wry debut Thoroughbreds, director Cory Finley tackles embezzlement and fraud for his sophomore feature: Bad Education. Like its predecessor, it’s a film that continues to showcase the talent of a rising filmmaker.
Finley’s debut was a strikingly stark piece of work, relishing in its almost horror-like sensibilities – a story of a girl plotting to kill her father, and her friend that gets roped into it all. It’s good to know the director isn’t veering too far off track for his follow-up, a film in which morality is muddied and students are duped when it’s uncovered that, behind the curtains of Roslyn High, superintendent Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) uncovers a web of corruption and embezzlement that gets messier and more out of hand as the film progresses.
Screenwriter Mike Makowsky’s screenplay is an assured piece of work, coming from a place of relatability – as a former student of Roslyn High himself. The writing is sharp and funny, walking the tonal tightrope impressively in creating a piece that is equally as dramatic and enthralling as it is darkly comedic and full of wit. Likewise, Finley directs with equal confidence; if Thoroughbreds wasn’t enough evidence, he has a real knack for storytelling and building his narratives until they just explode. Where Bad Education perhaps slips up is in setting itself up; it does take a while for the film to really get going and the setup mostly feels unnecessarily bloated – the script could have easily been finetuned for a airtight affair. Once it does find its footing though, the craftsmanship is undeniable.
The story is constantly unpredictable and surprising – it’s pretty shocking that this sort of thing actually occurred, and in this way too – but the whole thing clicks as well as it does because of the brilliant work from the cast. Finley has a much more star-studded ensemble to work with this time around – the likes of Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, and Rafael Casal join Jackman as the noteworthy headliners. They all give such strong turns here, clearly relishing in the world and having fun with the script. Jackman, especially, does a good job of breathing the charisma necessary to make his arc work into Frank – definitely enjoying peeling back the layers he’s given. The whole film is layered and delicately crafted; it’s a little slow in its opening stretch but, if you can bear with it, everything that follows is just brilliant. It’s dark, shocking, funny, and spades of fun. Finley, once again, shows why he’s a name to watch.
Bad Education will be released on a date TBC.
