Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)

Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) has only days left before she finishes high school. She's a good student who wants to go to college, but she's having trouble getting approved for financial aid, which she desperately needs. If she can only finish her senior year as class valedictorian, she knows she can get a scholarship. Enter the source of conflict of the film, Mrs. Eve Tingle (Helen Mirren), history teacher. Mrs. Tingle doesn't seem to like Leigh Ann. In fact she doesn't seem to like anyone except Trudie Tucker (Liz Stauber), a trust fund kid on her way to Harvard regardless of her senior class standing. Leigh Ann needs Mrs. Tingle to give her an A+ to become valedictorian while giving Trudie a lesser grade. How far will Leigh Ann and her friends go to convince Mrs. Tingle?

The premise of the film may sound a bit silly and unrealistic, and it is. But the focus of the film isn't the premise. This is not a plot-driven film in any traditional sense. It's an exploration of particular kinds of character dynamics for which the plot is merely an excuse to get to the necessary situations. As for realism, I don't require that in my films for any particular facts. On the other hand, Teaching Mrs. Tingle is incredibly realistic in terms of many of those character dynamics. So I don't subtract points just because something is realistic either. Realism is a consideration that writers and directors of fiction films are free to play with as they choose.

Although marketed as a thriller, and it certainly has those aspects as well as other subtexts, Teaching Mrs. Tingle is much more a film about acting. If you analyze what acting is, you realize that it involves putting on some kind of "false front", some kind of role-playing where the role isn't identical to your personal self-image and modes of behavior, and where you're feigning with the intent of selling others on the performance. In Teaching Mrs. Tingle, acting is explored in all its guises, from literal theatrical senses to public false fronts to attempts at deception for ulterior motives. So the film is really a study of how all people are actors with respect to each other in various ways, with very occasional moments of authenticity in personal dynamics inserted as contrast to underscore the idea. Writer/director Kevin Williamson weaves this exploration of acting at least through every non-technical element of the film--relationships, scenarios, dialogue and plot.

Leigh Ann's friend Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan) literally wants to be an actor, so we see her performing as Marilyn Monroe early in the film and later doing a scene from The Exorcist (1973). She also has a chance to act as Mrs. Tingle and later, during a pivotal moment in the climax, as a character she's created on her own.

Leigh Ann's history project is an instance of an object having a "false front" (as if the object itself is acting), and we see Leigh Ann putting on false public faces, mostly to appease those she loves (Jo Lynn and her mom, Faye (Lesley Ann Warren)). In one case, she is also acting to push away someone she loves (Luke Churner (Barry Watson)), and later to deceive someone she loves (Jo Lynn again) and does not want to hurt.

Luke's instances of acting are similar to Leigh Ann's.

Coach Wenchell (Jeffrey Tambor) is acting to deceive his wife, and we also see him go through some fairly literal role-playing. Later, he's also the "victim" of deceptive acting and another

Fmovies: Most people don't like this because of what happened at Columbine High. But Hello! This is just a movie! A Great Movie! Movies don't create psychos! This movie is Kevin Williamson's masterpiece, it's full of suspense and comedy. The dialogues are great written. And the actors are great as well, especially Helen Mirren and Katie Holmes. Kevin Williamson Rocks!

First of all, forget those ads where they make you think this is kind of a horror movie. This is one of the best comedies I've seen in a while. Those who thought that Kevin Williamson was "dead" were COMPLETELY wrong. This is one hell of a movie with a great and tremendously funny script and with a great cast. Marisa Coughlan should be nominated to the Oscar...her THE EXORCIST scene is a classic already. She steals the show although Helen Mirren is great in her bitchy role (you find yourself shouting to the screen "KILL HER!!!") Rent it, you won´t be disappointed.

Teaching Mrs. Tingle fmovies. I was zapping until I saw Ms. Mirren's elegant face. Damn, this woman's hot! I think I missed about the first half hour but seeing the utter crap that this film is, I certainly haven't missed much. This is just another one of those trashy teen thrillers and the only good thing about it is (obviously) Helen Mirren. I loved the way she transforms from mean to vulnerable to manipulative. The character is not the best written character (then there's a whole lot wrong with the sloppy writing let alone inconsistency, plot holes and lack of characterization) but this woman pulls it off with brilliance. Katie Holmes is one of the most uninteresting actresses and she should just stick to that snoozefest soap 'Dawson's Creek' where she continues 'advising' her co-stars. Oh wait, that's been long cancelled, hasn't it? Barry Watson and Marisa Coughlan are equally pathetic. I'm sure the director and the writer hated their teachers which is why they want to teach the kids of today that it's alright to kidnap your teacher and beat her up, no matter how mean she is in class because that will surely get you an A.

Kevin Williamson has shown that he can direct his vision of a movie that he has written. I think this is somewhat suspenseful and articulate. Williamson's use of vocabulary as in his other works is still by far unbelievable. Also, his introduction of the antagonist as she is walking through the hallway as students dodge her path is proving her power as being evil. This movie is also very realistic because everyone has felt threatened by a teacher like Tingle. This movie was excellent and I believe that Kevin Williamson did a great job in his directorial debut.

History teacher Mrs Tingle seems to have it in for student Leigh Ann Watson, who has her heart on achieving a writing school scholarship. She receives another low grade from Tingle, which doesn't help. When one of her classmates Luke steals the paper of the final history exams and pops it in her bag, Mrs. Tingle finds it sticking out. She threatens the three that she will go to the principal about it, but he's not available. So before she reports it the next morning. Leigh, her friend Jo Lynn and Scott head to her place that night and try to convince her not tell the principal. However due to Tingle's stubbornness, that find themselves reverting to drastic measures to stop this getting out.

Wasn't fan of it when I first saw it, and after another viewing, I'm still not one. Writer Kevin Williamson was on a roll after penning the successful contemporary teen horror films; 'Scream (1996)', 'I Know What You did Last Summer (1997)', 'Scream 2 (1997)' and 'The Faculty (1998)'. He was riding the success (also not to forget the TV show 'Dawson's Creek), but this project would be the final bump. The difference there, compared with this entry was other then writing the screenplay, he was also making his debut in directing. The strange thing though, was that I found his direction to be competently done, but material he stormed up to flavourless and tired. It seemed to get caught in playing both a black comedy and straight-out thriller, without making it gel. The script is cluttered with quick-wit, on-going gags, trivial stretches and gimmicky references towards other films, but the problem is that it's too watered-down with so many contrived developments and sappy moral currents disrupting the flow. The fractured script had to be more strong and potent, since it's a small-scale production that feels like you're watching a stage show because of its mostly confined sets. It tries to play mind games with the characters, but these moments are there to only serve the story's poor progression into a puddle of stupidity and senselessness. The film's ending takes the cake. Williamson's polished direction is sound, but more so in a pedestrian way and therefore it lacks suspense and the pacing even with its taut surroundings can really plod on. You eventually feel it after the halfway mark, and it shows up how minor the story is. The performances are tolerable enough, although if it weren't for Helen Mirren's classy, icy portrayal of manipulative prowess as Mrs. Tingle and a buoyant Marisa Coughlan, we would have been stuck watching a vapid goody-to-shoes Katie Holmes. Barry Watson is modest in his slacker part and Molly Ringwald has a lesser role. The soundtrack packs enough energy, but I found it terribly overwrought and shapeless in its choices.

Watchable, but mechanical all round.