There’s a moment in HBO’s new original film Bad Education where Huch Jackman’s character, superintendent Frank Tassone, encourages student reporter Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan) to be adventurous and creative in her report on a fancy new upgrade to the Roslyn school in New York. Sadly for Frank and the rest of his staff, he’s revealed a dangling thread on a carefully crafted quilt of lies. And the more Bhargava pulls at it, the quilt gradually unravels, and a town’s image of someone they considered a hero crumbles to pieces.
I think we’ve been sleeping on just how varied an acting talent Jackman is, and his performance here is a good example as to why. He’s been a gritty clawed X-man, disgraced politician Gary Hart, a pampered cartoon mouse in Flushed Away, and what I thought was an underrated and pretty good Valjean in Les Miserables.
Now you can add his turn as Tassone to some of his more interesting roles, as part of a true-story tale detailing what was the biggest school embezzlement incident in the history of the United States. Hugh’s performance goes from someone totally in control to someone making constant excuses for everything going wrong, then to incredibly indignant while having a conference with a student later in the film.
Director Cory Finley sets up Tassone’s fall well, going through his daily routines as normal while Rachel’s investigation sends her further down the rabbit hole. Finley juxtaposes this by showing how other repairs are badly needed for the school outside of a new skywalk, seemingly going ignored by the powers that be- among them Frank’s partner Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney), who revels in the financial benefits of the district’s success and rising property values in the community.
Frank believes “a town’s only as good as its school district”, a claim that Bad Education takes full advantage of as it sets up its story. So then why is there well over $200,000 missing from the district’s bank account? The hole leads them down into what eventually totals $11 million lost.
Throughout this movie there’s a strong sense of tragedy, because Cory Finley shows us how Tassone and the other officials are so respected and trusted by students, clients and parents, having us grow to like and admire them- before Bhargava’s sleuthing upends our trust. He’s equally encouraging to both current and former students, sharing a sweet romantic bit with graduate-turned-waiter Kyle (Rafael Casal).
At no point do Jackman or the director depict Frank as a mustache-twirling bad guy, showing how complex a character he actually is- both through small quirks like his obsessive no-carb diet and fondness for plastic surgery, and his general neurosis. I can see where the story might rub some the wrong way because it doesn’t totally vilify him, and his actions certainly will make you angry.
But Finley knows Tassone isn’t a person who can easily be defined one specific way, because he’s affected so many others in varying fashions. Here’s someone who’s reached all this success and acclaim, and yet something inside him causes him to still feel unfulfilled and underappreciated. And all of the flowery rhetoric he’s given Rachel as an encouragement, he just totally backpedals on as he desperately tries to discourage her.
While we’re praising Jackman for obvious reasons, Janney as Superintendent Gluckin turns in a great performance in her own right, going from incredibly smug and secure of her lofty social status to anger and then intense regret. One scene where Tassone and the staff confront her (in what is an effort for her to take the fall publicly) perfectly depicts how devastating this moment is to her, as she fails to maintain an image of professionalism.
For the most part, this is an extremely slow-burning movie with a heavy emphasis on realism (outside of a surreal fantasy sequence before the film’s end), and it asks you to listen closely as it sets up its clues. The payoff is eventually worth it because it’s fascinating to see how this situation impacts not just the perpetrators but everyone else around them.
It doesn’t come off as a huge shock- we see the scheme in practice before it’s exposed, and it unfolds as a gradual deterioration. Still, the nuance in the performances (including Ray Romano as the frustrated board president, who is always appropriately baffled as the chaos keeps unfolding) will likely hold the audience’s attention.
If you showed interested in the recent college admission scandals in the news, or if you’re simply interested in some grounded but strong acting, Bad Education is an easy recommendation. I would rate it a bit higher if we got to know Rachel more on a personal level and it went deeper into how badly these families were affected by the embezzlement, but it’s still worth a watch just for how fascinating the house of cards falling winds up. And as always, if you’ve had the chance to check it out, drop us a line at @official_FAN on Twitter and let’s have a discussion about it!