Teaching Mrs. Tingle MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 Content: -2

TEACHING MRS. TINGLE tells the story of Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes), a girl who will do whatever it takes to make sure she becomes valedictorian. Since she comes from a poor family, she needs the scholarship so she can afford to go to college. The only problem is that her history teacher Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren), is about to deny her the A she needs on her final project. Mrs. Tingle also finds a copy of the final exam in Leigh Anns bag and threatens to show it to the principle in the morning. So Leigh Ann, along with her best friend Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan) and Luke (Barry Watson), who put the test in her bag, go to Mrs. Tingles home to explain the situation. But things go badly, and they end up kidnapping Mrs. Tingle in her own home until they can figure out what to do. They need to get Leigh Ann her A but they also need to get out of their precarious situation without getting in trouble. This is a frustrating film because no matter how much you want to cheer for Leigh Ann, you always have the feeling she should be punished for this extreme behavior. However, the popular cast should help this film to bring in teen audiences.

Leigh Ann has the idea that she needs to be the valedictorian no matter what. She and her friends take desperate measures to make it happen. This is simply another example of the self-centeredness so prevalent in our society today. Her only consideration is me, me, me. Several scenes of violence occur in the movie, but none of them are exploitive. However, Mrs. Tingle is gagged and tied to the four corners of her bed. There is some sexual dialogue and one implied sex scene between two teenagers with no nudity. However, the girl in the scene is shown in her undergarments. The teens drink alcohol a few times through the film, and this behavior is considered acceptable given the tense situation they are in. The foul language is light compared to many of the recent teen oriented films, but it still has 9 s-words and 8 moderate crudities. Students abusing a teacher without consequence or remorse is disturbing, particularly in light of current school problems. Adding foul language to the sexual content and teen drinking makes TEACHING MRS. TINGLE the wrong lesson to learn.

Preview Reviewer: John Adair
Distributor: Dimension Films, 11 Beach Street, 4th Floor, NY, NY 10013