Bill Walmsley (a superb John Davies) hasn’t taught school in over twenty years. When he’s summoned in desperation to substitute at Donner High School, he quickly realizes just how much things have changed.
With text books held hostage by religious zealots, teachers unable to discipline students for fear of lawsuits, and an administration with all the spine of a jellyfish, Walmsley and attractive art teacher Louise have to be more concerned with not getting shot or raped than actually teaching anything.
That’s when Walmsley concocts a fiendishly deranged plan to salvage some of the brighter kids, and that’s where “Detention” sets off on a harrowing but often hilarious look at just what it might take to teach today’s kids anything.
Writer/director Andy Anderson weaves an unflinching, strikingly original and highly provocative black comedy here. “Detention” could be the secret wet dream of teachers across the country.
