Bad Education review – Hugh Jackman delivers his best performance yet

When you think of Hugh Jackman, it’s hard not to picture him as a singing, dancing, performing machine. Perfect smile. Pristine sheen. Less of an actor, more of a showman. Bad Education arrives, just as so many might have written him off, to remind us that Jackman is, above all, an excellent and versatile actor, though. It’s a film in which showmanship still plays a crucial part in the story, though the showman we get here is far from the greatest; beneath the immaculate surface, this one’s a liar, a fraud, and a criminal.

Cory Finey made a big impression with his debut feature, Thoroughbreds, a strange little film with a big nasty streak and a unique, unpredictable edge. His follow-up, based on a real life embezzlement scandal that rocked Long Island’s Roslyn High School in 2004 after it emerged that staff members had stolen more than $8 million from the public school fund, might not be spun from his own script (this one was written by Mike Makowsky, a former student at the aforementioned school), but it’s a step-up from Thoroughbreds in every sense – a filmmaker hitting their stride.

Jackman stars as the real life Dr. Frank Tassone, a beloved and highly-regarded superintendent whose dedication to his school has won him affection from his peers and parents alike. He’s impeccably dressed, charismatic, and a dominant force in every interaction, credited – almost single-handily – with helping the school rise through the district ranks into fourth place. But there is a far darker truth lingering beneath Tassone’s nip-tucked surface: a man who is nowhere near as cleanly cut as he’d have everyone believe.

As Makowsky’s witty script grapples with this remarkable tale of deceit, Bad Education adopts a slightly heightened version of reality that feels evocative of Alexander Payne’s Election, whilst Michael Abels’ chirpy musical score does a lot of the heavy lifting, tone-wise, to push it into the realms of dark comedy. Our hero this time is student reporter Rachel (a breakout performance from Geraldine Viswanathan), assigned to write a fluff piece on the school’s $7.5 million “skybridge.” In a cruel twist of fate, it’s Frank who accidentally engineers his own downfall after suggesting it’s only a fluff piece if Rachel thinks of it that way. It’s this little nudge of encouragement that leads her down an obsessive path, à la Spotlight, that will expose some shocking truths about the staff at Roslyn.

As Frank, Jackman is alternately pathetic, funny, despicable, and sympathetic – a character built in shades of grey that allows for a far more complicated portrait of entitlement than many might expect. And yet with such a nuanced performance at its core, it’s easy to forget that Bad Education is essentially a two-hander: as business administrator Pam Gluckin, Allison Janney is her usual quipping, sardonic self, but there is a sense of pathos here that this actor’s characters are rarely afforded; a sad undercurrent of a woman who decided she wanted more and simply went for it.

Despite its somewhat satirical tone, the experience of watching Bad Education is for the most part an anxiety-inducing one. We come to accept it’s all over for Frank long before he does, and the moment where things come crashing down is expertly withheld by Finley. He isn’t afraid to let his story meander occasionally, either (Las Vegas, here we come!), but tight direction paired with Lyle Vincent’s crisp cinematography means it never feels like this filmmaker is losing control of the material.

The film does drag a little towards the end (it could have easily been fifteen minutes shorter), and afterwards you might wonder whether its structure – hiding Frank’s obvious crimes for as long as possible whilst still presenting him to us as innocent – is in fact suited to a story of this sort. What cannot be denied is that Finley has made a relentlessly entertaining film about white privilege and self-delusion, packed with career-best performances. We always knew Jackman had it in him, of course: call this a reeducation.

★★★★☆

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This film was screened for the press as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2019. For more information and showtimes for this year’s festival, head to our dedicated page.