The Lessons of "Teacher"

"Cars" and the superhero movies are making about what everyone expected them to make this summer.

The surprise is the R-rated, female-driven success of "Bridesmaids" (still a positive buzz juggernaut) and now the R-rated "Bad Teacher." The Cameron Diaz comedy opened at better than $30 million despite mediocre to hostile reviews, most of the latter from critics who detected mysogyny in the movie's narrative (slutty, gold-digging teacher who bullies her students).

If so, the word of the movie's purported anti-woman character has not filtered down to women, who made up nearly 60 percent of its audience -- it skewed more heavily female that "Bridesmaids."

Does the movie really hate women? Diaz character is certainly outrageous  -- exhibting the sort of behavior that promotes outrage, particularly among critics. But the movie, which aspires to black comedy, also seems aware that her behavior is grotesque. As opposed to, say, "Sex and the City 2."

In other news, "The Green Lantern" flickered out, but Warner Bros. insists there will be a sequel.

Joke du jour: The Phillies are thinking of replacing the Daily News Home Run payoff with the Daily News Fielder's Choice payoff.