Bad Education

Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney give award-worthy performances in this based-on-a-true-story account of a school superintendent who runs a money laundering scheme for years under everyone's nose.

Jackman is the beloved superintendent, and Janney is the administrator who helps him by cooking the books and benefits financially herself. A writer for the school paper accidentally stumbles into a major story when she comes to interview them about a new fancy addition planned for the school and instead uncovers some suspicious financial transactions. It's her article in the paper that reveals the scheme and ends up landing both of them in jail.

"Bad Education" is modest in its ambitions, and it's as a result nothing fancy, but it is fiendishly entertaining and superbly acted, not just by Jackman and Janney but by the entire cast. It's about people willing to live their entire lives as a lie in the pursuit of material stuff.

I'm not sure whether the film is eligible for Oscars; I believe it was originally intended for theatrical release but was instead released as a movie on HBO -- not sure if that counts as a T.V. movie or a streaming movie that had to find a COVID workaround. If it is eligible, I would love to see Jackman and Janney in the running for nominations.

Grade: A