Bad Use of Time

Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) of the John Adams Middle School is not what you would call the quintessence of virtue. When she is not smoking pot in the car or getting wasted in the classroom even as the class is on an overdose of movies, Elizabeth is working assiduously towards all that is required to be done – fair and foul – to land herself a rich husband. When new teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) becomes the competing object of affection between Elizabeth and fellow-teacher Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), it does not take long for the latter to figure out the nether depths that competition would stoop to. However, is this a morality tale, or does evil prevail… or does Elizabeth metamorphose – at least partially – into a better person? Bad Teacher is a marginal movie at best, only redeemed somewhat by the thespian abilities of Cameron Diaz

10.5/20

Change of Heart

The despicable Gru (Steve Carell) is fast losing ground among the panoply of the world’s most despicable criminals. The likes of Vector (Jason Segel), young and aggressive, are the new poster boys of the financing giant The Bank of Evil. So Gru – along with the aid of evil genius scientist Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), and the minions, sets out on an audacious project – to shrink the moon and bring it back to Earth. Even as Vector threatens to steal a march over Gru, the latter adopts three orphaned children – ostensibly to help in the accomplishment of his nefarious objective – with unexpected consequences. With sharply defined characters, especially the Scrooge-meets-The Grinch Gru, and the young and scheming Vector, Despicable Me is a treat to watch and one of the underrated animation movies of 2010

14/20