|
Review by Susan Granger
0 stars out of 4
Filmed under the title "Killing Mrs. Tingle," this demented
teen comedy is about high-school students who kidnap and torture their
nasty history teacher. But, after shooting incident at Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colorado, in April, the title was quickly
changed. Kevin Williamson wrote the screenplay before "Scream" and
long before TV's "Dawson's Creek," but he couldn't sell it until he
became famous. Now he's using it to make his directing debut. The plot
revolves around a bitchy, sarcastic, sadistic schoolmarm (flamboyant
Helen Mirren) who terrifies everyone, even the principal (Michael
McKean) - whom she pointedly rebukes for his alcoholism problem. Her
students' anger boils over when Mrs. Tingle unfairly thwarts a college
scholarship for her most ambitious, over-achieving student (Katie
Holmes) by accusing the girl of stealing a copy of the final history
exam. The theft was actually arranged by another student (Marisa
Coughlan) and her boy-friend (Barry Watson). When the trio go to the
teacher's house in hopes of clarifying the situation, they're mocked
by terrible Mrs. Tingle (think of Margaret Hamilton as the cruel,
cackling Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz") and the confrontation
gets out of hand. Mrs. Tingle winds up tied to the headboard of her
Victorian bed as the enraged students make macabre mayhem. Will they
kill her or won't they? Obviously not - since this is a PG-13 movie -
and clever Mrs. Tingle can outwit the dumb, childish clods with mind
games even when she's in bondage, but that's still no excuse for
plodding caricatures rather than sympathetic characters. On the
Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" is a tedious,
tawdry 1. There's simply nothing amusing about this mean-spirited
glorification of violent revenge.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
|
