Unexpectedly nimble with a sense of charm without any pretention or commercial mainstream crassness. There is an independent film character to this movie and stands out for it simple but meaningful storyline about an inadvertent meeting between an English teacher and a former student who has written a unpublished play and which turns into an effort to make into a high school production. The comedy drama eventually descends into a typical drama section but with much deeper and harsher resonating elements than most such movies and remarkably somehow survives intact. The greatest weaknesses that appear in this movie are the overly sudden resolution about 20 minutes from the end of the movie, the lack of sufficient movie time spent on the play within the play and its ending that would have really captured the "real" audience resonance of the play within the play, and the need to spent a little more time on resolving the relational tension among all the principal characters, especially the director and lead actress in the play within the play. The voice over at the beginning and especially the ending were nice added touches. Overall, the movie was decently performed especially without having to rely on heavy brushes with comedy and quite entertaining.
Review of The English Teacher
