Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)

Starring - Katie Holmes; Helen Mirren; Marisa Coughlan; Barry Watson & Liz Stauber Director - Kevin Williamson MPAA - Rated PG-13 for thematic content, violence, sexuality, language and some teen drinking. There was a time when I thought Kevin Williamson was pretty much invincible when it came to churning out quality material. I'm not sure if the man has just overextended himself, or he has reached the end of his brilliance. Either way, Teaching Mrs. Tingle marks the end of his current string of excellent movies that he has been responsible for writing. With Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Williamson takes on the role of director as well as his normal role of writer. It almost seems that the two jobs were just a bit too much for him. While his directorial debut is a competent, if unremarkable effort, the screenplay is, at best, just slightly above average. And at times it borders on bad. The story is a fairly ridiculous one, and the only thing that saves it is that the characters are pretty good. But the true reason that this movie doesn't die completely is the fine cast of actors that have managed to save this film. Katie Holmes plays Leigh Ann Watson, a very bright girl from an under privileged family. Her only hope of ever getting out of her small town is to become valedictorian of her high school graduating class. That way she can score a big scholarship, which will be her only ticket to university. Sound familiar to any of you? It should. This is almost the exact same character that Holmes plays on Dawson's Creek -- a character that Kevin Williamson created. I guess Kevin should get some credit for not ripping off somebody else's characters. At least he had the decency to rip off his own work. Anyway, Leigh Ann has one obstacle in her quest for her scholarship -- her history teacher, Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). Tingle is like every bad teacher you've ever had all rolled into one. Tingle finds herself in the position to ruin Leigh Ann's plans to better herself; and seems to take a great deal of glee doing it. Actually, the reason that Tingle is going to ruin Leigh Ann is fairly legitimate, but Williamson is hoping that you will look past that minor inconvenience and just focus of the fact that Tingle is a first class bitch. So Leigh Ann and her two friends, Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan) and Luke (Barry Watson), decide to try to talk Tingle into giving dear sweet Leigh Ann a second chance. But in the end they end up holding her hostage in her own home. Unfortunately they aren't quite prepared for dealing with Mrs. Tingle. I'm not sure if this idiotic plot line was supposed to serve as the basis for some sort of dark comedy, but it didn't work for me. As dumb as the story was, I have to give Williamson credit for his characters. The interaction between Tingle and her young captors was excellent. It was just too bad that Williamson couldn't have found a better way of making this story happen besides this very lame impromptu kidnapping. While Katie Holmes and Barry Watson were the obvious audience draws in this film, the real star is Helen Mirren. This woman plays her character to the hilt. The best part of the movie was watching Mirren's Tingle play with her captor's minds. Everyone in this film is great. That also includes Michael McKean and Jeffrey Tambor in what amounted to glorified cameos. All were good, but all could have been better if they had had a bit more to work with. I never really got over the feeling that Holmes was just repeating a recycled script from Dawson's Creek. Williamson may have been doomed to fail on this movie. The film's release came around the same time as the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado -- prompting the producers to change the title of the film from Killing Mrs. Tingle to Teaching Mrs. Tingle. I'm sure that little marketing problem didn't help the film's chances at the box office. Then we have the fairly schizophrenic way in which this movie was directed. Parts of it almost seem to be played for pure comedy, while other parts are a failed attempt at the darker side of humor. Then we have the director himself. For an open homosexual, his direction certainly seemed to show a preoccupation with Katie Holmes' breasts. Not that I'm complaining, it just seemed a bit strange. (I guess if you have to be preoccupied with something; it might as well be Katie Holmes' chest.) High marks to the cast for keeping this sucker from going completely in the crapper. With most of the praise leveled squarely at Mirren. If she hadn't been so much fun to watch, I'm sure that I would have dozed off. Williamson's characters were good; it's just that the situation that he put them in took away from any positives that he brought to the table. My advice is to skip Teaching Mrs. Tingle and check out another of Williamson's far superior efforts. Keep an eye out for Holmes' future work. She hasn't found the right film yet, but when she does, I guarantee you it will be something to see. 6/10 Reviewed December 21, 1999 by Joe Chamberlain