In a movie which is supposed to be a comedy, most of the film is spent trying to make a mundane situation exciting. The film takes place during the last day of classes and a teacher named Andy Campbell has become fed up with senior class pranks. His character is immediately established as one of those teachers that does not possess a back bone. The antithesis to his character is a teacher named Ron Strickland who hot tempered and rough mouthed man who does not stand for the chaos ensued by his students. An incident occurs which leads both men to end up in the principal’s office.
Once there Campbell blames Strickland of starting the issue. Strickland becomes infuriated and threatens to have a fist fight with him after school.
Ice Cube continues to play the same character
Ice Cube is by no exaggeration a legend. He was a pioneer in the rap music and is one of the few people from that genre to have crossover appeal. However, Ice Cube has become very redundant in his inabilities to play any other character but himself. We all know that Ice Cube is tough and aggressive but every single film casts him as that type of person. In “21 Jump Street,” he played an aggressive mission leader and in his previous movies such as “Barbershop," he was just a hyperbolized version of himself.
His acting career continually consists of on note performances which continue to perpetual stereotypes about black men. It is automatically assumed that his character is the bad cop while the white character is clearly the peacemaker. Ice Cube has been extremely vocal about racism in Hollywood and politics in general but if he continues to play these types of roles, he become part of the problem.
It’s time for Ice Cube to drop the persona and pick roles that can actually show off his talents.
There is little character growth
One aspect of a film that makes it successful is the payoff or lesson that the characters learn at the end of the film. In the beginning of the movie, Campbell is a pushover, who lets his students get away with anything.
Some of the pranks which the students pull off would never actually happen because the police would be called and multiple arrests would occur. You have to suspend your disbelief for about 90% of this film which makes the payoff at the end unsatisfying. Campbell does experience slight character growth by the end of the film but in a story which makes two teachers their main subject, it is enough to make me feel any kind of attachment or sympathy for him. Charlie Day is an extremely talented actor and having such a flat character did not allow him to shine. The entire premise of the film is not groundbreaking and while there are (maybe two) moments which made me chuckle, this film is at best one of those movies that you play in the background while focusing on something else.
