Bad Education

2019 | Drama | 108 minutes | English

Info

Dr. Frank Tassone is the superintendent of the Roslyn School District in Long Island, New York. He’s revered by everyone: his students, the faculty, administrative staff, and the school board. After all, he’s elevated Roslyn School District to #4 in the national rankings; the kids are getting into the best colleges; and all this has skyrocketed home values. Tassone, a man of abundant charm, makes it a point to remember names: the students, the faculty, even the parents. He’s beloved, all around. But he and his assistant Pam Gluckin are flawed people. To maintain their high standard of living they start embezzling money from the school district. But then, Rachel Bhargave, a precocious reporter for the school newspaper, while working on a story about a project building a skywalk between the Middle and High schools begins to uncover these thefts. With hard research, she documents the millions that Tassone and Gluckin have been stealing from the school. Tassone and Gluckin get wind of this and start pressuring Rachel to drop the story. They tell her many innocent people will be harmed, the school will not be able to overcome the scandal, and that she, Rachel, will suffer the consequences. With a great deal of agonizing, Rachel must decide what to do. Should she let this incendiary story run or should she drop it?

Cast

Hugh Jackman (Frank Tassone) / Allison Janney (Pam Gluckin) / Geraldine Viswanathan (Rachel Bhargava)

Why Stream This Film?

When I was in business school, our ethics professor asked this question: “If you could make a fortune doing something you knew was criminal, but you also knew you would not get caught, would you do it?” The film Bad Education highlights this query brilliantly. Depicting a real life event, the film shows how people with charm, good looks, and successful in their profession could do bad things because they felt they could get away with it.

Rotten Tomatoes Score (Critics Consensus): 93%
Metacritic Score: 79