Every once in a while, I take a break from sharing recipes (healthy quesadillas) and selling virtual cooking classes to parents and instead share something fun, random and interesting.
For today’s email, it’s a movie review of “Bad Education” starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janey that is streaming on HBO.
It’s based on the shocking true story of what happened with the Roslyn School District in the early 2000s. Without going into details, let’s just say they had some MAJOR accounting problems caused by some very bad behavior from their top level staff.
Hugh Jackman stars as Dr Francis Tassone, the superintendent of the district who is riding high on a wave of top scores and students going to Ivy league schools. He’s charming, dressed immaculately in sharp suits and gets along with everyone. His Assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin,, played with smarm and vengeful entitlement by Allison Janey, is his good friend and cohort. There’s also a solid supporting cast, including Ray Romano as a lawyer on the school board, and a good side plot about a young girl writing a story about the school.
Watching Francis go about his day is an A+ picture of a top educator: talking to middle schoolers about their dreams, engaging with his staff who rally around his progress and all while sipping a healthy smoothie (gotta watch out for those carbs!).
Soon, we find out what this movie is about….and it’s fraud and MASSIVE deception that left me in awe by the end of the film. The film moves at a brisk pace, with plenty of dark humor as the truth comes out.
I don’t even want to get into the finer details, but you’re in for a treat.
Jackman is amazing and deserves an Emmy, as he is both extremely likeable and subtly conniving, all wrapped up in a carefully prim and proper outer package.
By the end, you’ll rethink what’s going on in your district and applaud the journalistic efforts of a handful of teenagers on a mission.
Rating (1-10): 9
Go watch it!
Get Cooking,
Chef Eric
P.S. If you need a half-day virtual camp that’s fun and educational for kids this summer for your kids so you can watch “Bad Education” on HBO, register for our Virtual Healthy Cooking Summer Camp!
Camp is 9am-12pm, Mon-Fri with 9 weeks of camp. We’re limiting it to the first 20 signups each week, so book your spot today! Also save 10% by Friday May 8th, with discount code: LIFT 10
