I just saw this movie tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival's first public screening of the movie. The plot focuses mainly upon the life of Henry Barthes, an emotionally overwhelmed substitute teacher who often cares too much for his own good. The movie is serious and heavy-handed with Brody's character often giving strong judgments that are unrealistically tolerated throughout. The actors do a fine job of portraying their characters with exception to Christina Hendricks. Hendricks character introduction is as unrealistic as I could imagine. At times the film will switch over to focus on the other teachers, presenting teaching as a thankless job and life of harassment. Overall the story is muddled and not given space to breathe. Despite the all-star cast, two young actresses steal the spotlight. Sami Gale and Betty Kaye give heartfelt performances that I wish were more expanded upon. In fact, the celebrity presence among the teaching staff serve to be distractions from the empathy we are meant to feel elsewhere.
A word of warning: political bias is very present. So if you enjoyed Waiting for Superman, you might take umbrage to the narrative.
A word of warning: political bias is very present. So if you enjoyed Waiting for Superman, you might take umbrage to the narrative.