A fascinating central turn proves the most interesting ingredient in a shaggy retelling of a high school corruption scandal
With his stylish, misanthropic debut Thoroughbreds, the writer-director Cory Finley arrived on the scene with undeniable, if slightly unrefined, talent. It was the kind of first movie that made you excited to see where he might go next, successful enough to suggest that better things were waiting around the corner. With his follow-up, the darkly comic drama Bad Education, he’s stepped up in terms of scale and ambition, telling a fact-based story of a brazen high school embezzlement with a starrier cast at his disposal. But like his first film, it’s the work of someone still finding their footing, a few degrees away from something worth truly shouting about.
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comedy