Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bad Education’ on HBO, a Funny White-Collar-Crook Bio Featuring Hugh Jackman’s Best Performance Yet

Writer Mike Makowsky was a firsthand witness of sorts to the real-life events inspiring Bad Education, which debuted at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and now sees wide launch via HBO. He was a six-year-old student in Roslyn Public Schools when he first met Frank Tassone, and witnessed firsthand how revered and influential the superintendent was — until he was busted in 2004 for embezzling millions from the district, engineering “the largest school theft in American history.” With Makwosky’s close ties to the saga, and Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney cast as leads, will the movie be more than just another based-on-a-true-story story?

BAD EDUCATION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Roslyn High School is fourth in the country in college-acceptance rates. Fourth! And it’s all due to Frank Tassone. He meticulously grooms himself in the morning, spritzing cologne on his neck and plucking stray nose hairs. He walks into his office, decorated with silver balloons shaped like 4s, a “snow day magic wand” and issues of Life Extension magazine. He says absolutely perfect things to a helicopter parent hyperventilating about her son’s troubles in school. He inspires a young journalist from the school paper to write more than just a “puff piece” about the school’s multimillion-dollar skywalk project. He’s thanked with a basket of candy from local real estate developers, who love him for making the district great and therefore inspiring skyrocketing property values.

At lunchtime, Frank sits in the football-stadium bleachers with assistant super/business manager Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney). He laments the health-food smoothie he’s consuming. “I would kill somebody for a carb right now,” he says, and she feeds him a big honking bite of her pastrami-on-rye. He leads the local ladies’ book club, and attendees didn’t even read the selection. They’re in awe of him, in his crisp light-blue oxford with white collar and cuffs adorned with fancy cufflinks. He offers to help with the dishes, and the hostess leans in, but he leans away. The memory of his late wife is too fresh, he says.

He goes to Vegas for a conference, and dutifully attends snoozy lectures while his colleagues gamble. Afterward, he sits down for a drink and recognizes the bartender: Kyle Contreras (Rafael Casal), a former student from 15 years ago when he taught English. Frank remembers his name, because he remembers everybody’s name, because he and Gluckin stay at work late so she can quiz him on everybody’s name. He and Kyle have dinner, and then go back to Frank’s hotel room and make out and then the movie cuts away. Hey now.

So about that young journalist, Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan). She’s no longer OK with writing a crappy puff piece, so she confidently plops down in Gluckin’s office and asks about project budgets and contractor bids. Gluckin is only slightly icy when she tosses Rachel the key to the firetrap basement records room, although if Rachel saw Gluckin’s seaside near-manse and Corvette convertible, she might have even more questions about how a public school administrator’s humble salary can indulge such extravagant tastes. I mean, Gluckin’s husband is a car salesman. Gluckin’s niece (Annaleigh Ashford) is the office secretary who helps Rachel make a zillion photocopies of school records with some big numbers on them, and it seems like only a matter of time before some of the people in charge around there are something that rhymes with “glucked.”

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Remember how Philip Seymour Hoffman totally owned Owning Mahowny, playing a buttoned-up gambling addict who bilked big stacks of cash from the bank he worked for? You don’t? (Does anybody who’s not a movie critic remember?) Well, watch the damn thing, and you’ll see a character who’s pretty much the opposite of Frank Tarrone in a similar stressful situation.

Performance Worth Watching: This is easily one of Jackman’s best performances — possibly THE best, especially in the first act, when he’s sparklingly charming. And the second act, when he tries to keep all the squirming puppies in the box And in the third act, when he shows how a life of subterfuge — sad on one hand, infuriating on the other — can quickly crumble, and he makes a hard left into villainy.

Memorable Dialogue: “Skywalk is big. Gets us to first!”, Frank chirps.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Director Cory Finley (Thoroughbreds) and Makowsky initially strike the perfect, slyly satirical gettin’-away-with-it tone, then, as soon as Gluckin goes up in flames and locks angry eyes with Frank for throwing her under the bus, seamlessly segue to I-feel-like-I’m-sitting-on-an-atomic-bomb-waiting-for-it-to-go-off suspenseful drama. They nurture uniformly excellent performances, from Jackman’s multifaceted charisma to Janney’s trademark irascibility to Ray Romano’s fluster as the school-board president to Viswanathan’s earnestness, which anchors the story.

The filmmakers cleverly embed character bits in the movie’s little visual details. The way Frank is yanked off a beanbag chair while chatting with sixth-graders so he can be informed of Gluckin’s malfeasance, for example. Or, in a touch of shrewd symbolism, how he carefully applies concealer to his eye wrinkles. Or how Rachel spreads out the school’s sketchy budget paperwork on the floor of her bedroom with a pile of period-specific Beanie Babies watching. This is a terrific movie, smart, character-driven, frequently funny and highly entertaining.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Bad Education bullseyes the sweet spot between realism and elevated drama, making it several cuts above the usual based-on-a-true-story fodder.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

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