The Netflix rating for this movie is one out of five stars. It rates five out of five on Rotten Tomatoes, and 5.3 out of 10 here on IMDb. The fact that the reviews are all over the place almost surely reflects Americans' ambivalence about teachers and public schools (or charter schools that are publicly funded, like the one represented here). My husband and I, both longtime educators, thought that this mockumentary was the most authentic representation of our profession that we have seen. Teaching is tough. It's tough when your students do not respond to your efforts, and, yes, it is even tough when you are "Teacher of the Year."Not that this is a humorless drama...not at all. It is hilarious because it captures how completely awkward and totally out of the box each day is when you work in this type of school. The teachers in this film display the full range of creativity, grit, anger, envy, compassion and depleted ego that comes with a high-intensity, socially essential job that is often completely disrespected and poorly remunerated.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie, but I actually liked it a lot. One of the better "Mockumentary" style films I have seen, and possibly one of my favorites.Basically Keegan Micheal Key is hilarious as Principal Douche, and the other supporting comedic actors keep it funny, but at the heart of it is a very good story with some depth too which made me want to find out what would happen next. As a "Mockumentary" though it is not a typical style comedy with typical style jokes every minute. It has some serious moments, but plenty of funny stuff too. Making it one of the better Mockumentaries in many years in my opinion.Do not expect a typical film and let it take you where it will go, very funny and really well done.

I have to tell you, this is not a "comedy", this is actually a very seriously crafted, scripted drama, like a true story, an in-your-face/up-close- and-personal documentary, recorded right on the site, at the school, at home, with candid camera works, faithfully caught all important moments of how those teachers dealt with the students and with themselves. When you watched it, you just felt that you were right in front of the teacher the camera was shot at and recording, it felt like it's you who was holding the camera, following the teacher(s), into the classrooms. The camera realistically exposed what the true colors of all the teachers, what they really were, what they were thinking. Some of the teachers in this film just gave you the impression that they really existed in all the public/charter/private schools. Some of them were self-centered, self-righteous, self- important, obnoxious, arrogant, moronic, evil, stubborn, or self- serving only to themselves. And unfortunately, some of the teachers were just helpless, frustrated, even hopeless and failing to get connected with their students. But some of the teachers indeed were very good, very decent and so passionate in teaching, loving and caring. This movie really showed us how a teacher could be greater to the other ones, and some of them were just pricks, like the science teacher, the two brothers who did the poor college counseling, and the vice principal who kept issuing penalty tickets to students without any probable cause. And the principal in this film just looked so real, and we completely believe there were principals just like him in our education system, they are bureaucrats instead of educators, they are only self-centered and self-serving to their own careers.This is an amazing movie that have caught my complete attention and focus during viewing and it also turned out to be such a great viewing experience; a rare one, by the way.

Watched this movie at the Icon Theater on Roosevelt. I really liked it. I felt like the film had a few technical issues and focusing on a scene for too long. Which a better editor of a reality based show might have done better at. I really liked all the actors especially The science teacher Karl T. Wright Very funny. I would recommend this movie to all teachers. While it might not sum up a lot of the issues that teachers have to deal with. I do believe it is a lot more realistic then most teacher movies. There is a good story line about how separate the Administration and Teaching staff in schools are that I know is the case. In most adaptations of schools in film and television they are commonly portrayed as all working together. This cannot be further then the truth. The administrations of most schools will willingly throw a teacher under a very fast moving school bus to avoid bad PR. While this film is not exactly about that issue alone it was one of my more favorite parts. I do however absolutely hate this poster that is attached to the IMDb site. I think its really terrible and makes it look like it is a freaking Police Academy spoof film. When that cannot be further from the truth. BAD DIRECTION ON THE VISUAL HERE GUYS!!!!!In conclusion, ignore the poster and watch the movie. Yours truly Andrew Day