January 7, 2009 - dan_ramer, DVDFile.com

Welcome to Geraldine Ferraro Elementary, where the teachers are drunk, lazy, or psychotic, every child has been left behind, and burned-out Vice Principal Tom Willoman (Jason Biggs) is barely holding on. But when totally hot district inspector Rebecca Seabrook (Eva Longoria Parker) arrives to shut down the school, she and Tom hatch a plan to take back the classrooms from insanely corrupt Principal Billings (Rob Corddry). What tragedy in Willoman’s past has turned him into a complete wuss? How did Nyquil shots and boxing matches become proper teaching tools? Monica Potter and Will Sasso co-star in this twisted comedy about the perils of public education. 

This is Mark Lafferty’s first effort as director and screenwriter for a feature film. He sure has crafted a clunky plot based on a story by Shahin Chandrasoma. While the crisis of the school closure is developing, Lafferty focuses on the quirky frustrations of the teaching staff; in fact, that is the focus of most of the movie. A newly divorced teacher sits in front of her class, twisting her hair and bemoaning life. One kid asks why doesn’t she teach something, and she tells him to screw off. I guess it’s kind of interesting, but it’s also kind of slow and boring. It reminded me of a college acting class I took years ago from a great teacher, Terra Pressler, when she once proclaimed, “acting bored plays as boring.” She was and is right about that.

A physical education teacher is so heartbroken from his busted marriage he stages fights between his students as he rages on the side. Two other teachers play a forced flirting game that is more goofball than anything. Ehh. Psychotic principal Billings is increasingly contemptuous towards every living creature and Willoman is left trying to figure out how to save the school from demise. But is this story worth saving?

After a while I realized that it’s best to try to enjoy this film as a spoof of school comedies. It’s rated R because of raunchy language and scenarios of teachers flipping out. All the actors do their best, and I was actually entertained by them all in their independent performances. The best moments are when Rob Corddry is onscreen. Corddry’s energy and acid tongue liven things up the most as he chews the scenes. Yet he acts like he has an undefined ax to grind… what is he so mad about?

Lafferty can seemingly let the actors ad lib some of their scenes, which sometimes turns a little David-Lynchian, but the wackiness of it all, including the far out dialogue, had me laughing. Some of the individual parts of this film are much better than the whole, which falls on its face. Hard.

Critics and even the public put a fork in this film and it’s not difficult to discover why. Parts of the film really demand that you are “on its wavelength” to get the humor. I approach comedy always braced by the simple fact that it is the most difficult genre to pull off. If I can laugh hard at a minimum of three fresh jokes or scenarios, I’m barely okay with slogging through the crappiest of stories. This film accomplished that but the funny bone was barely tickled; sure, I laughed a few times but never a good belly laugh.

The comedy here isn’t cliché, it will simply veer off into weird places that can leave one scratching one’s head. Lafferty may have ‘laffed and had a good time during the making of this film, but his next project needs to have some traction as well as some teeth.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 is presented in anamorphic video.  The film quality is very clean with little if any artifacts or blemishes. Colors are very saturated, though scenes can look a tad hazy at times. Fleshtones look proper, although the strong saturation of colors can make people appear slightly painted, but this is splitting hairs because hues look great overall. Contrast is well balanced with very deep blacks, a solid midrange, and clean whites that never bloom. This allows for some very good depth in well-lit scenes. Small object detail looks quite good, and finely grained textures in close-ups fair decently. A few moments of minimal edge halos do emerge. Some darker scenes do display more grain, such as the principal’s office with the smoky backlighting. For the most part, the video quality is a solid contender.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The disc includes a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The audio is clean and fairly realistic, but the dynamic range is average. Granted, the film is a comedy and not necessarily intended for an impressive sonic experience. The mix is front heavy, but has some front directional effects that enhance the film. With unnoticeable ADR, dialogue is very well recorded; I never had to engage subtitles. Surrounds exhibit faint life and discrete activity isn’t audible. Perhaps an emphasis on the pattering of children’s feet in the halls, wind in the courtyard, and other effects could have been highlighted in the audio mix, but alas, we’re left with an ordinary, bland track.

No other audio tracks are included. As for subtitles, there is optional English SDH.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Extras include the featurette The ABC’s Of LOWER LEARNING: Behind the Scenes (14 minutes), which shows some behind the scenes footage as well as interviews with key cast members and director & writer Mark Lafferty. Lafferty seems very easy going and inclusive while working with his actors and extras. Some of the performers crack some funny quips.

Next up are deleted scenes and outtakes (a healthy 26 minutes). There are 10 of these scenes and they are funny to watch. Most of them are sluggish, but they have their funny moments. The first one Chocolate Bath shouldn’t be missed, however, it’s bizarre.

Theatrical trailers include: The Grand and Lower Learning.

The 97- minute film is organized into sixteen chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts

With a corrupt school on the brink of collapse, a vice principal tries to rally the students and staff to save it from the clutches of an underhanded, psychotic principal. Some of the weird humor is funny, but the wobbly story and spoof-like handing of the film are hard to digest. The picture quality is fine, audio is bland, and some supplements are not bad. Mostly recommended if you are fans of the actors otherwise, you’re on your own.

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