High school movies have always dealt with teenage issues such as drugs, sexuality and loneliness but have rarely dealt with the teacher's issues and their struggles. In Craig Zisk's feature film debut "The English Teacher," Julianne Moore plays an English teacher whose life is disrupted when one of her old students returns to her town.
Linda Sinclair (Moore) is a lonely woman who has dedicated her life to her students and to literature. The opening montage shows Linda's youth. She reads but never participates in any activities. It then cuts to her teenage years and also shows her in a dorm room isolated from everyone else. By the end of the montage Linda is a middle-aged woman who is respected by her students and by the whole district. She is an exemplary teacher... but she is still a lonely soul. In another montage Linda dates various men but never likes any of them because she has issues with their personalities.
When Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano) comes into the picture, her life falls apart. Jason was one of her old students who failed to do anything with his playwright career after college. In a coincidental meeting Linda and Jason rekindle their friendship. Linda asks to read Jason's play and in the spur of the moment decides she wants to do it for the annual school production.
For the most part, the movie is a formulaic comedy with some hilarious scenes. One moment Jason and Linda are just having a friendly conversation and immediately after, they start having sex. The scene is effective and humorous because of its unpredictability. Another silly but effective scene features theater director Karl Kapinas (Nathan Lane) singing Steven Sondheim's music. The performance seems random in the movie but it truly works especially because of its transition into a montage. The addition of a voiceover is also comical. The speaker uses a British accent and tells Linda's story as if it were a fairy tale that had to end a specific way.
Moore and Lane also add to the humor. Moore's awkward hair style, clothes, as well as her straight model-like walk give it an amusing tone. She speaks in prose and makes sure to have clear diction. However as she begins to unravel, Lynda exaggerates her mouth movements, as well as her facial expressions. Her voice also becomes filled with hesitation and nerves. She even starts to walk in a quick and slouching manner.
Lane adds comic touches in his performances including the aforementioned Sondheim song and his overemphatic reactions to everything. At one moment when Linda quits the play, Kapinas calls her on the phone. Lane's vocal power comes through even though he is not in the scene. In another scene he tries to convince the principal to do the show and uses a quote by David Mamet to curse out his superiors. It is an incredibly hysterical scene.
However the film feels bereft of real characters and their respective developments. Zisk never gives the viewer answers for Linda's seeming troubles, making it hard to identify with her loneliness. The reason for her aversion to men is also underdeveloped, making the entire narrative thrust feel somewhat empty. Linda engages in strange behavior (she pepper sprays herself upon before entering a hospital), but it seems trivial without a true understanding of her isolated behavior.
The rest of the characters are also glimpsed by. Jason shows up for the beginning of the film and quickly fades into the background despite being the reason that Linda's life changes. The fact that he loses screen time as the film reaches its climax makes him feel like a simple plot device. Zisk never lets the audience understand why he is such as failure, why he is so upset with his father and what he really wants out of his life.
Jason's father Tom (Greg Kinnear) also feels shallow. He eventually becomes Linda's love interest but there is no indication of why this ever happens. Additionally Zisk never clears up the relationship he has with his son. Why is he so unsupportive of Jason? Why is their relationship so severed? These mysteries remain unsolved by the time the film ends. The biggest elephant in the room however might be the following: Why does the character show up half into the movie and how does Linda fall for him in such little time? Especially after displaying such animosity toward her in their few scenes together? What was so special about him that her aversion to men suddenly dissipates?
All these questions seem reasonable and Zisk only touches the surface of them. While the film will prove enjoyable, its numerous plot holes make it a frustrating experience.
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