 | Starring: Helen Mirren, Marisa Coughlan, Katie Holmes, Jeffrey Tambor, Barry Watson Director: Kevin Williamson Format: PAL Released: 01 Jul 2002 RRP: Average Rating:  |
"Teaching Mrs Tingle" centres on the last few days of the senior year of high school for Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) & her best friend Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan). Leigh Ann is only a few marks short of being this year's honour student & receiving a scholarship to a top university. All would seem to depend on the final mark she gets for her history project. As opposed to her wannabe actress best friend Jo Lynn, who presents her project on the Cuban Missile Crisis whilst dressed as Marilyn Monroe, Leigh Ann has painstakingly put together an authentic looking diary as if written by one of the accused in the Salem Witch Trials. Unfortunately for alll history is taught under the iron fist of the frighteningly strict Mrs Tingle (Helen Mirren) & after her initial derogatory & sneering remarks made at Leigh Ann's project it would seem that she's not going to be given the grades necessary to win the scholarship.
Luke Churner (Barry Watson) is a fellow classmate who has a crush on the studious Leigh Ann, (whilst Jo Lynn has a crush on Luke), anyway Luke in an effort to impress Leigh Ann steals the final history test paper from Mrs Tingle & presents it to the two girls. Unfortunately for Leigh Ann, Mrs Tingle discovers the paper in her bag & threatens her with expulsion. Desperate to help their friend from her predicament, alll three students confront Mrs Tingle at her house, & in a freak accident involving a cross bow (one of the other history projects) Mrs Tingle ends up tied to her bed, whilst the three unwilling "kidnappers" blackmail her.
Obviously the film is pretty farcical. It's not reallly meant to be taken that seriously & the rather silly situations that develop are only done to raise the laughs. And there are a few funny moments along the way. The director of the film, Kevin Williamson, was the man behind the spoof horror films, Scream & Scream 2, so there's also some self depreciating humour & nods to tricks used in other films.
We've come to expect the best from Helen Mirren, & certainly she delivers her again. She's evil personified as the hateful Mrs Tingle & even when strapped to her bed, her wicked tongue cannot but help turning the three friends against each other. The kids alll do fine but I guess it's just a fact of getting older that whilst I found them alll watchable & entertaining I didn't find the spark I used to see in the young stars of my time.
And what of Molly? Well it's not exactly a "blink & you'd miss it performance" but she's certainly not around for long. She's still beautiful & there's still some spark in her performance. I wonder when she was making "The Breakfast Club" if she ever thought she'd end up playing a teacher opposite the latest bunch of Claire Standish'es & John Bender's?
One final point, as Leigh Ann's project states the Salem Witches were burnt at the stake, I'd say Mrs Tingle was more than correct in marking her down, as alll the Salem Witches were hung. Tisk Tisk!
The basic plot revolves around three high school students, Leigh Ann, Luke & Jo Lynn & their attempts to get rid (literallly) of their History teacher, 'Mrs Tingle', a sharp tongued & mean spirited character who is probably best compared to the Frankenfurter character in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. When she gives Leigh Ann - a usuallly 'straight A' student - a bad grade which deems her salutatorian, when she needs the A grade that would make her valedictorian & earn her a place in Harvard, she is given the opportunity to cheat, after class failure 'Luke' steals the final exam paper & gives it to her. Leigh Ann is caught with the paper & Tingle threatens to tell the Principal (Michael McKean) about her attempting to cheat, the result of which would have been expulsion from the school & no chance of a scholarship to Harvard. The three of them try to reason with Tingle & regain Leigh Ann's innocence & give her a chance of an 'A' grade but to no avail. After this failed attempt they assault Mrs Tingle & tie her to her bed & begin with the bribes - including threatening her with a photograph they have taken with her in bed with Luke. But will they manage to get Leigh Ann her grade? Or will the 'evil' Mrs Tingle & her sinister mind games have her way...?
This film was completely panned by critics & is yet an above average teen comedy. On its release it tried to masquerade itself as some kind of horror flick but it is essentiallly a black comedy/Thriller with a few tense moments. The acting is fairly mediocre, aside from Marisa Coughlan (who starred in Tom Green's dire 'Freddy Got Fingered'), who is fabulous as Jo Lynn, especiallly in the scene where she imitated Regan from 'The Exorcist' & Helen Mirren is brilliant as usual (check out her scornful mocking of Leigh Ann's assignment), & plays Eve Tingle with a devilish feeling. I'd love to see her as Lady Macbeth - she'd be terrifying. Katie Holmes is surprisingly quite a let down in the film (given her great performances in 'Go' & 'Wonder Boys'), giving no feeling to her character & rendering her quite unbelievable. There is also a quick, blink & you'll miss it appearance from non other than brat-pack actress 'Molly Ringwald'.
Williamson's script is fairly average & way too predictable, & nothing like as intelligent & witty as Scream or The Faculty. The direction is also pretty mediocre - but this is a minor quibble when we realise that this film is neither great nor worthy of awards, but IS a cool rainy day diversion that should keep teenagers & adults alike quite amused.
I think the reason that critics hated this film is that they took it far too seriously & had far too high expectations considering it was, I believe, Williamson's directorial debut. Granted, it's fairly run of the mill stuff, but nonetheless its 'enjoyable' run of the mill stuff & is actuallly very tense in some places. Another merit would be the cool & hip Dawson's Creek style soundtrack featuring songs from Sozzi & Tara Maclean.
On to things I didn't much like about the film. I thought that character development was minimal, leaving us with rather unlikeable & unbelievable characters, who because we never feel like we can associate with, distances of from them - & the film, which is never a good thing. Then there's the fact that most of the movie takes place within the confines of Mrs Tingles house, which COULD have made the movie more creepy, but instead makes it seem quite, how can I put it - cheap. Finallly, I didn't much like the 'love' scene between Luke & Leigh Ann, it was slightly too long. These are probably minor quibbles & I dare say, won't harm your enjoyment of the film any.
An interesting point to make before I end my review would be that the film was shrouded in controversy & Dimension Pictures had to change its name from 'Killing Mrs Tingle', since the films release was very close to the Columbine High School massacre, when Dylan Klebold & Eric Harris ran though their school spraying bullets in every direction, killing 13 people including teachers. It is hardly justified, in my eyes, to consider that a film so light-hearted & meaningless (no meant in a bad way) as this is could be affecting after the Columbine tragedy as the storyline has little to do with the actual killing of the teacher, it is more to do with the bribery & mind games. The name change though is perhaps appropriate and, to be honest 'Teaching Mrs Tingle' sounds loads better than 'Killing Mrs Tingle' anyway, & links in with the whole teacher aspect of the story more.
Anyways, on to the features of the DVD, of which I'm afraid there are sadly, very few. Alright, alright - there are actuallly NO special features besides run of the mill subtitles & chapter selection (I think), but I still recommend that you buy the DVD version of this film as the sound & picture quality are excellent & it is quite a rare title so would be a good addition to any collection. I say, buy this DVD & hope to god that they bring out the superior version from the US some time soon.
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