Crazy Awesome Teachers ครูขอลุย (2020) บรรยายไทย

The transformative power of the classroom is a frequently used trope in cinema – showing wayward students can better themselves, or that flawed or disillusioned protagonists can be redeemed through meaningful instruction.

In Indonesian director Sammaria Simanjuntak’s Crazy Awesome Teachers, now streaming on Netflix, a reluctant substitute instructor at a small village high school learns the value of his profession, albeit through decidedly questionable means.

Taat (Gading Marten) loves money but hates teachers, which is problematic because he’s broke and his father (Arswendi Nasution) is the local principal. After failing to make a success of himself in the city, he returns home, and through a tangle of largely irrelevant contrivances, becomes the new substitute teacher at his father’s school, despite having no formal qualifications.

When Taat’s arrival coincides with the theft of the money to pay teachers’ salaries, he immediately falls under the suspicion of his colleagues, not least feisty office administrator M. Rahayu (Faradina Mufti). His subsequent efforts to clear his name and retrieve the cash lead to comedic high-jinks that teach him about responsibility.

Considering the elaborate set-up, Taat’s redemption has little to do with reconciling with his father, or imparting wisdom to his students, who remain largely anonymous throughout the film. That the main characters are teachers is also largely irrelevant. Taat looks for validation by wooing his attractive co-worker and getting his hands on the missing money.

From left: Faradina Mufti, Dian Sastrowardoyo, Gading Marten, Boris Bokir and Kevin Ardilova in a still from Crazy Awesome Teachers.

Gading Marten might not fit the mould of a romantic lead, but he is a fine comedic performer. In 2018, he won the Citra Award, Indonesia’s equivalent of an Oscar, for his performance in romantic comedy Love for Sale, and continues to develop the same kind of unkempt everyman persona here.

The film’s real highlight is Mufti, as the put-upon Rahayu. After minor supporting roles in Love for Sale and Joko Anwar’s 

 , the 30-year-old actress provides a welcome counterbalance to Marten’s playful extrovert, and offsets her character’s authority with a tenderness that grounds their burgeoning romance.

As the film’s third act spirals into absurdity, with teachers and students pitted against murderous gangsters in a ridiculous rooftop showdown, this central relationship feels legitimately earned, even if precious little else does.