Cameron Diaz saddened the cinematic world in 2018 when she announced her formal retirement from acting. The 48-year-old actress has an impressive filmography of hilarious hits, including (but not limited to) The Mask, There’s Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich and the blockbuster Shrek franchise. She also has plenty of hidden gems on her resumé, one of which happens to be hitting Netflix later this week.
Bad Teacher is arguably the last legitimately good film Diaz ever starred in. Weirdly enough, however, it’s also one of the least discussed. Back in 2011, the aforementioned flick shocked the industry when it grossed $216.2 million against a $20 million budget, earning the cast and crew several accolades at the Teen Choice Awards and thrusting the actress back into the spotlight.
The laugh out loud movie revolves around a middle school educator who, predictably, is not very good at her job. In fact, she’s downright horrible. Elizabeth Halsey hates the students, the faculty and just about everything that comes with the profession. The only reason she returns to the classroom is so that she can afford breast implants after her wealthy fiancé breaks up with her. Yikes.
Despite lukewarm reviews, the film was so beloved by fans that the studio quickly began planning a sequel. Unfortunately, though, a follow-up never ended up materializing, but CBS did launch a show with the same name and basic plot in 2013. The short-lived series failed to capture the humor and charm of the source material, however, and ended up getting canceled after just three episodes.
Now, viewers will be able to revisit the original movie and see if it still holds up after almost ten years. With any luck, the public will fall back in love with Cameron Diaz‘s absurd antics and its arrival on the streaming site will reignite talks of a potential sequel. Maybe the beloved performer will even consider coming out of retirement for the role? Stranger things have happened this year.
Bad Teacher hits Netflix on September 27th.