Bad Education

On Sky Cinema and available to rent on other services.

Written by Mike Makowsky, based on Robert Kolker’s New York Magazine, Corey Finley’s Bad Education stars Hugh Jackman and is based on the true story of Dr. Frank Tassone the superintendent of New York’s Roslyn school district. Tassone on the surface is a caring, diligent and successful leader, driving the district to 4th in the education “league table”, with the support of his assistant Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney), until a massive fraud is uncovered showing years of systematic theft of public funds. The story is made public by an expose in the school newspaper from inquisitive young reporter Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan).

I’ve said before I always enjoy a well told “true life” story, sometimes its the staggering audacity of a crime, but sometimes it’s the little things, the ones that start small and get out of control. This is one of those stories and Finley’s film does a really enjoyable job of telling it. Jackman is excellent in the central role bringing to life a complex character, full of contradictions with many a narcissistic tendency. Alisson Janney is excellent as always and Geraldine Viswanathan also brings plenty as the inquisitive school reporter.

This is an enjoyable telling of an interesting story, it drags a little in the final 20 minutes, but before that it moved a long at a good pace never getting too bogged down in financial details, but enough to keep you intrigued. It also does a good job of exploring the private lives of those involved, especially of Tassone, without overly prying.

It’s full of good performances and a snappy script. Worth checking out.