The English Teacher is a 2013 American romantic comedy film directed by Craig Zisk. The film stars Julianne Moore, Michael Angarano, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins and Nathan Lane, and was written by Dan and Stacy Chariton. It received mixed reviews.
The English Teacher | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Craig Zisk |
Produced by |
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Written by | Dan Chariton Stacy Chariton |
Starring |
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Music by | Rob Simonsen |
Cinematography | Vanja Cernjul |
Edited by | Myron I. Kerstein |
Production company | Artina Films |
Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $320,013 |
Screenplay
This article needs an improved plot summary. (November 2015) |
Linda Sinclair (Moore) is a high school English teacher in the small town of Kingston, Pennsylvania. She is passionate about her subject and popular with her students, but lives alone in a simple existence; cursed with a hopeless romantic soul in a world of men unable to match her impossible standards. When her former star pupil Jason Sherwood (Angarano) returns from New York, crushed and insecure after failing to succeed as a playwright, Linda convinces him to produce his play at the school, as the play is far too good to never reach a stage. Jason's overbearing father, Dr. Tom Sherwood (Kinnear), pressures him to attend law school instead, which he finally relents to lest his ulcer be the end of him with no other prospects in sight. Complications arise after Linda and Jason, in a moment of impulsive creative madness, have a sexual encounter (right on her school desk!) Which, when after various jealousies and rampant rumours is discovered, affects her and everyone around her (including the production of the play). When the school heads are confronted with proof of said scandalous indiscretion with a former student, Linda is fired on the spot. Embarrassed and in erratic egress from the situation, Linda runs off and gets into a minor car collision, resulting she ends up at an A&E where she's attended to by no other than Dr.Tom Sherwood. When he treats her pleasantly after she had been so mean to him previously, she guiltily admits having slept with his son.
With surprise news of successful advance-ticket sales of beyond $18,000 for the atypical play, the headmaster is reluctant to miss out on the much needed cash injection; so backtracks and persuades Linda to return to at very least directing duties so the play may go on. However, there's also yet another slight bone of contention, the school heads require a new ending to the play as they refuse to sanction such a violent end to a school/student production, afraid the parents will be outraged by the dark themes of murder/suicide. When Jason feels betrayed and refuses to rewrite the play's ending, Linda is forced to come up with a suitable replacement herself, lest the entire play is a failure (& Jason's reputation ruined before it's even started.) After much soul searching she attempts to write an improved ending which Jason comes around to accepting when he realises the play is a roaring success.
All is forgiven and Jason moves on to write further plays as Linda eases back into teaching (not to mention, regaining her reputation.) Some time later, Linda runs into Jason's father (Tom) at her favourite bookshop and they catch up over a coffee, where they both realise they'd totally misread each other previously. Grateful for all Linda has done for his son, and pleasantly surprised they have much more in common than previously thought, Tom invites Linda on a further proper date (if she's able to see beyond the awkward situation!?), which a somewhat hesitant Linda accepts...
Has teacher finally found a man she can grade with an "A+"?? ...
- Julianne Moore as Linda Sinclair
- Michael Angarano as Jason Sherwood
- Greg Kinnear as Dr. Tom Sherwood
- Lily Collins as Halle Anderson
- Nathan Lane as Carl Kapinas, the school drama teacher
- Jessica Hecht as Principal Trudie Slocum
- Norbert Leo Butz as Vice-Principal Phil Pelaski
- Nikki Blonsky as Sheila Nussbaum
- Erin Wilhelmi as Joni Gerber
- Alan Aisenberg as Benjamin Meyer
- Charlie Saxton as Will
- Sophie Curtis as Fallon Hughes
- Fiona Shaw (voice only) as Narrator
The English Teacher was first announced in September 2011. It was Zisk's feature film directorial debut, following his work on several television shows including Weeds, The Big C, Scrubs and The United States of Tara.
The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2013, followed by a US theatrical release on May 17. It was released in 7 theaters, and earned $104,810 domestically at the box office, and $215,203 in foreign countries, for a worldwide gross of $320,013. The film also had a video on demand release.
The English Teacher received predominantly mixed reviews. Review-aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes reports that 42% of reviews were positive, based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.