While the explanation lies in the director's folly, Teaching Mrs. Tingle is so unusual that you are never truly sure what's going to happen next. Despite that, the ending is so disappointing and empty-headed it left me disgruntled.
By reading the back cover of the DVD, this film seems to believe that it's a dark comedy. Not hardly! I find nothing witty or satirical about the plot whatsoever. (I should have listened to my parents when they told me to never read the back of those cunning movie rental boxes.)
Helen Mirren plays Mrs. Tingle; a super-evil history teacher, with a cold stare and mean growl, who seems to require the failure of deserving students to function. When she mistakenly catches the apple-of-the-school-eye, do-gooder student, Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes), cheating on a final exam, all hell breaks loose. Leigh Ann, along with her best friend, Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan), and her hunky-boy admirer, Luke (Barry Watson), manage to hold Mrs. Tingle captive, tied to her very own bed.
The rest of the plot is difficult to regurgitate because there are enough unusual plot-twists (maybe "distractions" would be a better word) that my head spun. Unfortunately, there is nothing truly spectacular about these twists; entertaining, as they may seem, they are misguided and clearly meant to mislead you into thinking this movie has actual value. However, this film struck me as such a strange endeavor that, as I watched, it had me believe anything could happen (which would have been a good thing if the director made something out of it.)
What's so distressing about this film is that it began so devilishly pleasant and panned out into such a mess! A pleasant smirk arose on my face as the heinous Mrs. Tingle took a dump on some student’s impressive project (that would have been utterly praised by any normal teacher based on my experience in the public education system). Who wouldn't want to tie this woman prisoner to a bed? (In a strict non-sexual manner that is.) I had to admit that it was a joyous concept.
The most potentially intriguing aspect of this film is when Mrs. Tingle says that she's harsh toward Leigh Ann because she reminds her of herself at that age. Mirren's delivery of that was as sincere as can be! However, the director/screenwriter doesn't clue the audience as to what lesson Mrs. Tingle is trying to teach by doing this! Furthermore, the conclusion suggests she wasn't actually trying to teach this girl anything! Aaargh!
Perhaps the strangest part of the film is Helen Mirren. Her performance is so chilling and engaging that it even had me guessing if Mrs. Tingle was the stone-cold bird we all thought she was. Tragically, such a concept wasn't even written into the script. It would seem writer/director Kevin Williamson wanted Mrs. Tingle to be simply a cold one-dimensional villain while Mirren struggled to shape some warmth and character-depth. Throughout the entire thing, I expected some sort of profound personality change in the characters only to be left empty-handed. Perhaps that's why this movie is so utterly bizarre.
Mirren's co-stars are passable actors. I haven't much to say about Katie Holme's ability to carry out a movie (even with the help of Mirren), but Marisa Coughlan -- whose wild imitation of a scene from the Exorcist had me rolling. She turns in a fitful and bubbly performance but truly nothing spectacular. There is a bit of a casting surprise with the appearance of Molly Ringwald as a substitute teacher. (You'd think with all she's been through, she would want to stay away from the public school system for good!)
I was intrigued while watching the thing, but the conclusion left me utterly disgruntled. I was enraged to find out this movie, that showed signs of an inspired conclusion, turning out to be among the most empty-headed, meritless flicks I have ever seen. Even mainstream Hollywood normally doesn’t stoop this low. Apparently, no character involved gets any type of lesson or personality-change out of this serious situation (that to the normal person would no doubt be life altering). Mrs. Tingle should at least repent! (She probably does, but the director strangely chose to end the film two minutes after the climax, so she wasn't given the chance!) I would have thought even an amateur screenwriter would have known better.
ONLY READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T CARE IF I TELL YOU THE END:
Even Leigh Ann gets everything she wants at no price during the last two minutes. She doesn't go to jail, or get expelled by the wrath of Mrs. Tingle (and my legal sympathies are to Mrs. Tingle all the way -- she has every right to be strict with her school children and that does not constitute for her students to hold her captive!) In fact, Mrs. Tingle let Leigh Ann get away with changing a fellow student's project grade from an A to a B, and she even gets that scholarship. Bollocks! The only way they would get away with that is if a) Mrs. Tingle went to jail (which I seriously doubt) or b) Mrs. Tingle went through a character change and re-evaluated Leigh Ann's grade (though there was no character change evident.) What most likely happened was that Leigh Ann kidnapped Mrs. Tingle and duct taped her to a nuclear warhead during the graduation ceremony.
Having said that, watching Helen Mirren give it all she's got provides reason enough to catch this on cable. She should be commended for trying so hard on something this hopeless.
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Starring:
Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Jeffrey Tambor, Barry Watson, Marisa Coughlan, Liz Stauber, Michael McKean, Molly Ringwald, Vivica A. Fox, Lesley Ann Warren
Directed by:
Kevin Williamson
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1999 thriller (sort of)
Rated PG-13.
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Don Ignacio's score: D+