Butler's Cinema Scene

Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney

“BAD EDUCATON” My rating: B 

108 minutes | TV-MA

In the world of public education Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) is a rock star.

The superintendent of the Roslyn School District in a posh corner of Long Island, Frank has over a decade ratcheted up his district’s reputation. Currently the high school he oversees is rated as the fourth best in the country; Frank promises his cheering fans that he won’t stop until Roslyn is Number One.

Moreover, Frank melds educational excellence with personal charisma. His wardrobe is right out of GQ. As are his daily ablutions. Like a veteran pol, he knows the names of innumerable students, their parents and civic supporters. He’s charming and selfless and handsome…small wonder this widower periodically must gently turn aside the romantic ministrations of newly divorced soccer moms.

His teachers and staff adore him and the city fathers are no less enthusiastic.  Like school board member Big Bob Spicer (Ray Romano), a real estate broker who knows that a top school district is a magnet for rich, upwardly mobile families looking to buy in the ‘burbs.

And behind closed doors with his confidants — especially business administrator Pamela Gluckin (Allison Janney) — he enjoys a good cussing session.

In short, Frank Tassone is too good to be true.  And you know where that can lead.

Scripted by Mike Makowsky (who was a Roslyn student during Tassone’s celebrated tenure) and directed by Cory Finley, “Bad Education” emerges as a black comedy so seductive that, like most of the folks in his orbit, we don’t want to believe that Frank Tassone could be anything but the white knight he appears to be.

Hugh Jackman, Geraldine Viswanathan

The first signs that all is not well comes when it’s revealed that Pamela’s bonehead son has been using a school district credit card to buy construction material for his personal use. A frantic audit reveals that at least $250,000 is missing.

Frank argues that a lid must be kept on this boiling pot. Fire Pamela, make her give back the money, but avoid a legal scene that will tarnish Roslyn’s reputation and possibly set back years of academic progress.

Of course it doesn’t stop there. A reporter on the student newspaper (Geraldine Viswanathan) starts poking into district purchasing practices and finds millions going to vendors that don’t exist. Her editor is gob-smacked…he was counting on Frank writing him a glowing college recommendation letter.

Oh, yeah, one more thing.  Turns out there was no deceased Mrs. Tassone.  Frank is gay, with a husband in Manhattan and a boyfriend in Las Vegas.

Makowsky and Finley excel at capturing the tension of an ever-tightening noose around Frank’s neck.  But “Bad Education” gets under our skin because of Jackman’s deeply nuanced performance. The difference between the outer public man and the semi-libertine inner spirit makes for a cracking good performance. Moreover, Jackman — one of the handsomest faces in filmdom — here allows the camera to go in close, revealing every brow furrow and jowl sag.  You can actually see the character physically coming apart.

He’s very nearly matched by Janney, whose Pamela quite simply believes that for all her hard work she deserves to make off with as much loot as she can carry. This is avarice raised to the level of personal religion.

A postscript informs us that Tassone and Gluckin pilfered the district for more than $11 million.  It remains the biggest case of public education embezzlement ever.

| Robert W. Butler