this movie is written by the man who is deemed to be " one of the hottest writers in hollywood " .
he wrote the groundbreaking screenplay for scream ( 8/10 ) , then added the successful
i know
what you did last summer ( 7 . 5/10 ) script to his mix , and also created the popular tv series " dawson 's creek " .
so when he asked to direct his first movie , based on his first ever script written , everyone and their grandma said " sure , go for it !
" . uhhm , my question is .
.. did anyone bother reading this stupid script ? ? ?
plot : ace student leigh
ann
watson is mistakenly caught with some cheating papers by the bitchiest teacher in the west , mrs .
tingle , and set to lose her scholarship to college .
when she and her friends visit the teacher at home in order to explain their side of the story , they end up tying her up , and slowly trying to talk some sense into the hardheaded woman .
critique
: it 's not so much that this is a bad movie , than the fact that it sucks .
this movie is chock - full of one - dimensional characters , contains no actual humor that i was able to zone in on , zero tension or thrills , plot holes the size of my big ass , lame pop tunes played to mask nothing going on in the movie , and molly ringwald , vivica a. fox and lesley anne warren tossed away in throwaway roles .
i was primed for this film as its interesting premise had me thinking misery ( 8/10 ) and 9 to 5 , but unfortunately for williamson
, he went nowhere with the bright foundation , making references to the exorcist
and dr .
zhivago , which i doubt many in his target market will appreciate .
he also forgot about suspense , with all of his characters based on incomprehensible decisions , unbelievable motivations and simply boring us with all of their trite dialogue .
sure , katie holmes is cute , and her co - star , marisa coughlan , did a reasonably amusing impression of the exorcist ( worth two points out of my three on ten ) , but how can we forgive the biggest one - dimensional character in any film , holmes ' rival in the film , mrs .
tingle 's complete unprofessionalism being let go by all others around her ( are teachers allowed to behave that way nowadays ? ) and a transparent romance between holmes and some long - haired dude , hired to be the poor man 's version of skeet ulrich ( who himself is a poor man 's version of johnny depp ! ) .
all in all , this movie was laughable for me , provided me with no insight into anything , demonstrated williamson 's genuine lack of directorial skills alongside a juvenile script , and provided helen mirren with a great role to chew into , unfortunately forgetting to give her character any believability , humanity or capacity to comprehend .
no hip lines , no cheap thrills , just a dull time at the movie theater .
if you want to see a funny teenage movie , go see detroit rock city ( 8/10 ) , and thank my drunken , sorry ass in the morning .
little known facts about this film and its stars : kevin williamson 's father was a fisherman .
kevin used his knowledge of fishing hooks and winches when creating the killer in i know what you did last summer ( 7 . 5/10 ) .
he is also a huge fan of steven spielberg and coincidentally , so is dawson leery on tv 's " dawson 's creek " ,
a show kevin created .
he was once an aspiring actor .
in fact , he even landed a bit part on tv 's " another world " .
also , williamson has gone on record to say that an unsupportive english teacher who once told him that he would never amount to anything was the inspiration for mrs .
tingle , which is also loosely based on the book " killing mr .
griffin
" by the writer of i know what you did last summer ( 7 . 5/10 ) , lois duncan .
he has also come out and said that he is a gay man .
helen mirren was born in london , england under the name ilynea lydia mironoff .
she is married to director taylor hackford , whose works include devil 's advocate ( 8/10 ) and an officer and a gentleman ( 8 . 5/10 ) .
this film was originally titled killing mrs .
tingle , but was changed after the columbine high school shooting incident .
actress marisa coughlan will star in kevin williamson next tv project called " wasteland " .
this is actor barry watson first full feature film .
he has played the character of " seth " on tv 's " malibu shores " several times .
Output: N