Bad Education (2020)

Set in 2002, the superintendent (Hugh Jackman) and his assistant (Allison Janney) of an upper middle class school district are highly respected educators and pillars of the community. But they have a dirty little secret ..... they're embezzling millions of dollars from the school district. Based on a true story by way of a New York magazine article called THE BAD SUPERINTENDENT by Robert Kolker and directed by Cory Finley (THOROUGHBREDS). Most films based on true stories tend to be either too dry or too exaggerated but this one is, for the most part, riveting in the telling. I was hooked almost immediately. It's a fascinating and infuriating story. Finley keeps a tight rein on the narrative, letting it digress only when necessary but there's a rich vein of humor, too. The film's success is due in no small part to the performances of Jackman (who really kills it here) and Janney. How did two decent people who cared about education go flying off the tracks? Alas, the film doesn't answer that question but Jackman and Janney lets us see the mortals, not just the criminal scumbags. While the film's coda may be enraging (Jackman's character collects a $173,000 pension from the school district while in prison), the film is a terrific morality tale. With Ray Romano, Stephen Spinella and Geraldine Viswanathan as the high school reporter who broke the story.