Teaching Mrs. Tingle

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 93 min Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Let’s cut right to the chase… this movie sucks. It’s not funny, it’s certainly not scary, and as a drama it would fail miserably.

The premise of the movie looks great. Helen Mirren plays Mrs. Tingle, a history teacher who makes the worse teacher you’ve ever had seem like an angel. Seriously, you want to smack Tingle in the mouth almost from the moment she comes on screen. Anyway, there are two students clamoring for the top spot in graduation, one of which Mrs. Tingle can’t stand for one reason or another (Katie Holmes as Leigh Ann Watson.) When Tingle catches Leigh Ann with a copy of the final exam she makes it known that she plans to have her expelled from school.

Here’s where the plot was supposed to get interesting… the student caught with the exam go to Mrs. Tingle’s house that evening in an attempt to convince her that Leigh Ann had nothing to do with getting the exam. Things go wrong, and they end up holding Tingle captive while trying to find a way to change her mind.

Sounds like a lot of fun doesn’t it? Who out there hasn’t had a teacher they would love to have had in a situation like this? Unfortunately, the movie just falls flat at this point. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem is with the film, but it just doesn’t work for some reason. The acting isn’t that bad and in fact, I almost gave this movie 2 stars just out of respect for Helen Mirren’s amazing portrayal of Mrs. Tingle. The plot sounds like it would be OK, but when you put it all together, it just doesn’t work at all.

Skip this movie, it’s not even worth renting unless you happen to be a huge Helen Mirren fan.

Posted by John | Filed Under 1 Stars, Barry Watson, Helen Mirren, Horror, Katie Holmes, Marisa Lesley, Molly Ringwald, PG-13, Theatrical