Amazon.co.uk Review
The artwork for Teaching Mrs Tingle may feature young cuties Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlin and Barry Watson, but the real star is the actress playing the title character: Helen Mirren. Mirren is the bitter, tyrannical teacher who, due to circumstantial evidence, believes goody two-shoes Holmes is guilty of cheating on her history final. Holmes, Coughlin and Watson go to Mirren's home to convince her that there's been a misunderstanding, but Mirren refuses to listen. Terrified that this will ruin her chances to go to college, Holmes and her compatriots knock Mirren out and tie her to her bed. Unfortunately, they haven't any idea what to do next; when Mirren awakes, the situation becomes a battle of wits in which the teenagers are hopelessly outmatched. Coughlin and Watson are pretty to look at and Holmes has some genuine talent and a lot of charm, but Mirren--who's played in Shakespeare productions on the stage and been in movies ranging from lurid and trashy (Caligula) to eerie and arty (The Comfort of Strangers) to lurid, trashy, eerie, and arty (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover)--combines the cutting intelligence of Vanessa Redgrave, the steely will of Judi Dench and a sensual energy that any young starlet would kill for. This teen comedy-thriller is just an amusing footnote in Mirren's career, but if you've never been transfixed by this actress's mischievous sidelong glances, Teaching Mrs. Tingle might provide a good start.--Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Clever with good acting.......2006-03-09
this is aclever story, an inspired plot and the acting is brilliant. just watch it and see
Teaching Mrs Tingle.......2005-08-07
I was attracted to watch "Teaching Mrs Tingle" as it featured Molly Ringwald, a star of many of the teenage high school flicks of my era, and I thought it would be interesting to see how she'd changed, and also to see how the present day high school films compared to those I was brought up on.
"Teaching Mrs Tingle" centres on the last few days of the senior year of high school for Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) and her best friend Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan). Leigh Ann is only a few marks short of being this year's honour student and receiving a scholarship to a top university. All would seem to depend on the final mark she gets for her history project. As opposed to her wannabe actress best friend Jo Lynn, who presents her project on the Cuban Missile Crisis whilst dressed as Marilyn Monroe, Leigh Ann has painstakingly put together an authentic looking diary as if written by one of the accused in the Salem Witch Trials. Unfortunately for all history is taught under the iron fist of the frighteningly strict Mrs Tingle (Helen Mirren) and after her initial derogatory and sneering remarks made at Leigh Ann's project it would seem that she's not going to be given the grades necessary to win the scholarship.
Luke Churner (Barry Watson) is a fellow classmate who has a crush on the studious Leigh Ann, (whilst Jo Lynn has a crush on Luke), anyway Luke in an effort to impress Leigh Ann steals the final history test paper from Mrs Tingle and presents it to the two girls. Unfortunately for Leigh Ann, Mrs Tingle discovers the paper in her bag and threatens her with expulsion. Desperate to help their friend from her predicament, all three students confront Mrs Tingle at her house, and in a freak accident involving a cross bow (one of the other history projects) Mrs Tingle ends up tied to her bed, whilst the three unwilling "kidnappers" blackmail her.
Obviously the film is pretty farcical. It's not really meant to be taken that seriously and the rather silly situations that develop are only done to raise the laughs. And there are a few funny moments along the way. The director of the film, Kevin Williamson, was the man behind the spoof horror films, Scream and Scream 2, so there's also some self depreciating humour and nods to tricks used in other films.
We've come to expect the best from Helen Mirren, and certainly she delivers her again. She's evil personified as the hateful Mrs Tingle and even when strapped to her bed, her wicked tongue cannot but help turning the three friends against each other. The kids all do fine but I guess it's just a fact of getting older that whilst I found them all watchable and entertaining I didn't find the spark I used to see in the young stars of my time.
And what of Molly? Well it's not exactly a "blink and you'd miss it performance" but she's certainly not around for long. She's still beautiful and there's still some spark in her performance. I wonder when she was making "The Breakfast Club" if she ever thought she'd end up playing a teacher opposite the latest bunch of Claire Standish'es and John Bender's?
One final point, as Leigh Ann's project states the Salem Witches were burnt at the stake, I'd say Mrs Tingle was more than correct in marking her down, as all the Salem Witches were hung. Tisk Tisk!
"You gave me a 'B'?!!!!".......2004-07-26
Leigh Ann Watson needs an "A" in history to get a scholarship. The teacher falsely accuses her of cheating and is confronted by her friends. Will Mrs. Tingle see the light or need some help.
I really like the original title "Killing Mrs. Tingle" that would have put a little more pathos in the movie. It is quite an IRONY. This movie looks like a training ground for "9 to 5" (1980) ASIN: 6300247236.
Helen Mirren is the perfect Mrs. Tingle; she has that look that can see through your sole and divulge your deepest fears. That same year she played Ayn Rand in Passion of Ayn Rand, The (1999). However most people remember her as Supt. Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect - Boxed Set ASIN: 6304490577.
Michael McKean made a perfect principal and you can tell he was sweating on his early encounter with Mrs. Tingle. Remember him in "Laverne & Shirley" (1976) TV Series as Lenny Kosnowski (1976-1982)?
Then there is the quick appearance of Molly Ringwald as Miss Banks. She brings back memories of Sixteen Candles (1984) ASIN: 6305078068, when she was the teenager.
If this movie looks predictable or the people's thoughts are transparent, that is the design. Now the viewer can say don't do that or oh no will they really do that? And you can see eyes narrow as the mind is plotting!
The only real disappointment was the rather arrownious solution. It may worked if this was a plot for a TV series.
Unexpectly Fab.......2002-07-22
I found this to be a brilliant funny flim, the black humour gave it that extra zest making the viewer unwilling to change the channel. I felt Helen Mirren, played the bitchy heartless teacher better that everyone could have with her sharp toungue insulting everyone she spoke to. Though lots of people i know felt this flim was not worth the plastic it was made on, i feel thats true, its worth a lot more. Don't take the flim to seriously and i insure you you will enjoy it
Cool Film, Not-so-cool DVD.......2002-07-04
Written and directed by Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Scream and Scream 2), Teaching Mrs Tingle is a fun and slightly demented film starring Katie Holmes (also of Dawson's Creek fame) and Helen Mirren (Long Good Friday and The Pledge).
The basic plot revolves around three high school students, Leigh Ann, Luke and Jo Lynn and their attempts to get rid (literally) of their History teacher, 'Mrs Tingle', a sharp tongued and mean spirited character who is probably best compared to the Frankenfurter character in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. When she gives Leigh Ann - a usually 'straight A' student - a bad grade which deems her salutatorian, when she needs the A grade that would make her valedictorian and earn her a place in Harvard, she is given the opportunity to cheat, after class failure 'Luke' steals the final exam paper and gives it to her. Leigh Ann is caught with the paper and Tingle threatens to tell the Principal (Michael McKean) about her attempting to cheat, the result of which would have been expulsion from the school and no chance of a scholarship to Harvard. The three of them try to reason with Tingle and regain Leigh Ann's innocence and give her a chance of an 'A' grade but to no avail. After this failed attempt they assault Mrs Tingle and tie her to her bed and begin with the bribes - including threatening her with a photograph they have taken with her in bed with Luke. But will they manage to get Leigh Ann her grade? Or will the 'evil' Mrs Tingle and her sinister mind games have her way...?
This film was completely panned by critics and is yet an above average teen comedy. On its release it tried to masquerade itself as some kind of horror flick but it is essentially a black comedy/Thriller with a few tense moments. The acting is fairly mediocre, aside from Marisa Coughlan (who starred in Tom Green's dire 'Freddy Got Fingered'), who is fabulous as Jo Lynn, especially in the scene where she imitated Regan from 'The Exorcist' and Helen Mirren is brilliant as usual (check out her scornful mocking of Leigh Ann's assignment), and plays Eve Tingle with a devilish feeling. I'd love to see her as Lady Macbeth - she'd be terrifying. Katie Holmes is surprisingly quite a let down in the film (given her great performances in 'Go' and 'Wonder Boys'), giving no feeling to her character and rendering her quite unbelievable. There is also a quick, blink and you'll miss it appearance from non other than brat-pack actress 'Molly Ringwald'.
Williamson's script is fairly average and way too predictable, and nothing like as intelligent and witty as Scream or The Faculty. The direction is also pretty mediocre - but this is a minor quibble when we realise that this film is neither great nor worthy of awards, but IS a cool rainy day diversion that should keep teenagers and adults alike quite amused.
I think the reason that critics hated this film is that they took it far too seriously and had far too high expectations considering it was, I believe, Williamson's directorial debut. Granted, it's fairly run of the mill stuff, but nonetheless its 'enjoyable' run of the mill stuff and is actually very tense in some places. Another merit would be the cool and hip Dawson's Creek style soundtrack featuring songs from Sozzi and Tara Maclean.
On to things I didn't much like about the film. I thought that character development was minimal, leaving us with rather unlikeable and unbelievable characters, who because we never feel like we can associate with, distances of from them - and the film, which is never a good thing. Then there's the fact that most of the movie takes place within the confines of Mrs Tingles house, which COULD have made the movie more creepy, but instead makes it seem quite, how can I put it - cheap. Finally, I didn't much like the 'love' scene between Luke and Leigh Ann, it was slightly too long. These are probably minor quibbles and I dare say, won't harm your enjoyment of the film any.
An interesting point to make before I end my review would be that the film was shrouded in controversy and Dimension Pictures had to change its name from 'Killing Mrs Tingle', since the films release was very close to the Columbine High School massacre, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris ran though their school spraying bullets in every direction, killing 13 people including teachers. It is hardly justified, in my eyes, to consider that a film so light-hearted and meaningless (no meant in a bad way) as this is could be affecting after the Columbine tragedy as the storyline has little to do with the actual killing of the teacher, it is more to do with the bribery and mind games. The name change though is perhaps appropriate and, to be honest 'Teaching Mrs Tingle' sounds loads better than 'Killing Mrs Tingle' anyway, and links in with the whole teacher aspect of the story more.
Anyways, on to the features of the DVD, of which I'm afraid there are sadly, very few. Alright, alright - there are actually NO special features besides run of the mill subtitles and chapter selection (I think), but I still recommend that you buy the DVD version of this film as the sound and picture quality are excellent and it is quite a rare title so would be a good addition to any collection. I say, buy this DVD and hope to god that they bring out the superior version from the US some time soon.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The artwork for Teaching Mrs Tingle may feature young cuties Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlin and Barry Watson, but the real star is the actress playing the title character: Helen Mirren. Mirren is the bitter, tyrannical teacher who, due to circumstantial evidence, believes goody two-shoes Holmes is guilty of cheating on her history final. Holmes, Coughlin and Watson go to Mirren's home to convince her that there's been a misunderstanding, but Mirren refuses to listen. Terrified that this will ruin her chances to go to college, Holmes and her compatriots knock Mirren out and tie her to her bed. Unfortunately, they haven't any idea what to do next; when Mirren awakes, the situation becomes a battle of wits in which the teenagers are hopelessly outmatched. Coughlin and Watson are pretty to look at and Holmes has some genuine talent and a lot of charm, but Mirren--who's played in Shakespeare productions on the stage and been in movies ranging from lurid and trashy (Caligula) to eerie and arty (The Comfort of Strangers) to lurid, trashy, eerie, and arty (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover)--combines the cutting intelligence of Vanessa Redgrave, the steely will of Judi Dench and a sensual energy that any young starlet would kill for. This teen comedy-thriller is just an amusing footnote in Mirren's career, but if you've never been transfixed by this actress's mischievous sidelong glances, Teaching Mrs. Tingle might provide a good start.--Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Clever with good acting.......2006-03-09
this is aclever story, an inspired plot and the acting is brilliant. just watch it and see
Teaching Mrs Tingle.......2005-08-07
I was attracted to watch "Teaching Mrs Tingle" as it featured Molly Ringwald, a star of many of the teenage high school flicks of my era, and I thought it would be interesting to see how she'd changed, and also to see how the present day high school films compared to those I was brought up on.
"Teaching Mrs Tingle" centres on the last few days of the senior year of high school for Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) and her best friend Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan). Leigh Ann is only a few marks short of being this year's honour student and receiving a scholarship to a top university. All would seem to depend on the final mark she gets for her history project. As opposed to her wannabe actress best friend Jo Lynn, who presents her project on the Cuban Missile Crisis whilst dressed as Marilyn Monroe, Leigh Ann has painstakingly put together an authentic looking diary as if written by one of the accused in the Salem Witch Trials. Unfortunately for all history is taught under the iron fist of the frighteningly strict Mrs Tingle (Helen Mirren) and after her initial derogatory and sneering remarks made at Leigh Ann's project it would seem that she's not going to be given the grades necessary to win the scholarship.
Luke Churner (Barry Watson) is a fellow classmate who has a crush on the studious Leigh Ann, (whilst Jo Lynn has a crush on Luke), anyway Luke in an effort to impress Leigh Ann steals the final history test paper from Mrs Tingle and presents it to the two girls. Unfortunately for Leigh Ann, Mrs Tingle discovers the paper in her bag and threatens her with expulsion. Desperate to help their friend from her predicament, all three students confront Mrs Tingle at her house, and in a freak accident involving a cross bow (one of the other history projects) Mrs Tingle ends up tied to her bed, whilst the three unwilling "kidnappers" blackmail her.
Obviously the film is pretty farcical. It's not really meant to be taken that seriously and the rather silly situations that develop are only done to raise the laughs. And there are a few funny moments along the way. The director of the film, Kevin Williamson, was the man behind the spoof horror films, Scream and Scream 2, so there's also some self depreciating humour and nods to tricks used in other films.
We've come to expect the best from Helen Mirren, and certainly she delivers her again. She's evil personified as the hateful Mrs Tingle and even when strapped to her bed, her wicked tongue cannot but help turning the three friends against each other. The kids all do fine but I guess it's just a fact of getting older that whilst I found them all watchable and entertaining I didn't find the spark I used to see in the young stars of my time.
And what of Molly? Well it's not exactly a "blink and you'd miss it performance" but she's certainly not around for long. She's still beautiful and there's still some spark in her performance. I wonder when she was making "The Breakfast Club" if she ever thought she'd end up playing a teacher opposite the latest bunch of Claire Standish'es and John Bender's?
One final point, as Leigh Ann's project states the Salem Witches were burnt at the stake, I'd say Mrs Tingle was more than correct in marking her down, as all the Salem Witches were hung. Tisk Tisk!
"You gave me a 'B'?!!!!".......2004-07-26
Leigh Ann Watson needs an "A" in history to get a scholarship. The teacher falsely accuses her of cheating and is confronted by her friends. Will Mrs. Tingle see the light or need some help.
I really like the original title "Killing Mrs. Tingle" that would have put a little more pathos in the movie. It is quite an IRONY. This movie looks like a training ground for "9 to 5" (1980) ASIN: 6300247236.
Helen Mirren is the perfect Mrs. Tingle; she has that look that can see through your sole and divulge your deepest fears. That same year she played Ayn Rand in Passion of Ayn Rand, The (1999). However most people remember her as Supt. Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect - Boxed Set ASIN: 6304490577.
Michael McKean made a perfect principal and you can tell he was sweating on his early encounter with Mrs. Tingle. Remember him in "Laverne & Shirley" (1976) TV Series as Lenny Kosnowski (1976-1982)?
Then there is the quick appearance of Molly Ringwald as Miss Banks. She brings back memories of Sixteen Candles (1984) ASIN: 6305078068, when she was the teenager.
If this movie looks predictable or the people's thoughts are transparent, that is the design. Now the viewer can say don't do that or oh no will they really do that? And you can see eyes narrow as the mind is plotting!
The only real disappointment was the rather arrownious solution. It may worked if this was a plot for a TV series.
Unexpectly Fab.......2002-07-22
I found this to be a brilliant funny flim, the black humour gave it that extra zest making the viewer unwilling to change the channel. I felt Helen Mirren, played the bitchy heartless teacher better that everyone could have with her sharp toungue insulting everyone she spoke to. Though lots of people i know felt this flim was not worth the plastic it was made on, i feel thats true, its worth a lot more. Don't take the flim to seriously and i insure you you will enjoy it
Cool Film, Not-so-cool DVD.......2002-07-04
Written and directed by Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Scream and Scream 2), Teaching Mrs Tingle is a fun and slightly demented film starring Katie Holmes (also of Dawson's Creek fame) and Helen Mirren (Long Good Friday and The Pledge).
The basic plot revolves around three high school students, Leigh Ann, Luke and Jo Lynn and their attempts to get rid (literally) of their History teacher, 'Mrs Tingle', a sharp tongued and mean spirited character who is probably best compared to the Frankenfurter character in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. When she gives Leigh Ann - a usually 'straight A' student - a bad grade which deems her salutatorian, when she needs the A grade that would make her valedictorian and earn her a place in Harvard, she is given the opportunity to cheat, after class failure 'Luke' steals the final exam paper and gives it to her. Leigh Ann is caught with the paper and Tingle threatens to tell the Principal (Michael McKean) about her attempting to cheat, the result of which would have been expulsion from the school and no chance of a scholarship to Harvard. The three of them try to reason with Tingle and regain Leigh Ann's innocence and give her a chance of an 'A' grade but to no avail. After this failed attempt they assault Mrs Tingle and tie her to her bed and begin with the bribes - including threatening her with a photograph they have taken with her in bed with Luke. But will they manage to get Leigh Ann her grade? Or will the 'evil' Mrs Tingle and her sinister mind games have her way...?
This film was completely panned by critics and is yet an above average teen comedy. On its release it tried to masquerade itself as some kind of horror flick but it is essentially a black comedy/Thriller with a few tense moments. The acting is fairly mediocre, aside from Marisa Coughlan (who starred in Tom Green's dire 'Freddy Got Fingered'), who is fabulous as Jo Lynn, especially in the scene where she imitated Regan from 'The Exorcist' and Helen Mirren is brilliant as usual (check out her scornful mocking of Leigh Ann's assignment), and plays Eve Tingle with a devilish feeling. I'd love to see her as Lady Macbeth - she'd be terrifying. Katie Holmes is surprisingly quite a let down in the film (given her great performances in 'Go' and 'Wonder Boys'), giving no feeling to her character and rendering her quite unbelievable. There is also a quick, blink and you'll miss it appearance from non other than brat-pack actress 'Molly Ringwald'.
Williamson's script is fairly average and way too predictable, and nothing like as intelligent and witty as Scream or The Faculty. The direction is also pretty mediocre - but this is a minor quibble when we realise that this film is neither great nor worthy of awards, but IS a cool rainy day diversion that should keep teenagers and adults alike quite amused.
I think the reason that critics hated this film is that they took it far too seriously and had far too high expectations considering it was, I believe, Williamson's directorial debut. Granted, it's fairly run of the mill stuff, but nonetheless its 'enjoyable' run of the mill stuff and is actually very tense in some places. Another merit would be the cool and hip Dawson's Creek style soundtrack featuring songs from Sozzi and Tara Maclean.
On to things I didn't much like about the film. I thought that character development was minimal, leaving us with rather unlikeable and unbelievable characters, who because we never feel like we can associate with, distances of from them - and the film, which is never a good thing. Then there's the fact that most of the movie takes place within the confines of Mrs Tingles house, which COULD have made the movie more creepy, but instead makes it seem quite, how can I put it - cheap. Finally, I didn't much like the 'love' scene between Luke and Leigh Ann, it was slightly too long. These are probably minor quibbles and I dare say, won't harm your enjoyment of the film any.
An interesting point to make before I end my review would be that the film was shrouded in controversy and Dimension Pictures had to change its name from 'Killing Mrs Tingle', since the films release was very close to the Columbine High School massacre, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris ran though their school spraying bullets in every direction, killing 13 people including teachers. It is hardly justified, in my eyes, to consider that a film so light-hearted and meaningless (no meant in a bad way) as this is could be affecting after the Columbine tragedy as the storyline has little to do with the actual killing of the teacher, it is more to do with the bribery and mind games. The name change though is perhaps appropriate and, to be honest 'Teaching Mrs Tingle' sounds loads better than 'Killing Mrs Tingle' anyway, and links in with the whole teacher aspect of the story more.
Anyways, on to the features of the DVD, of which I'm afraid there are sadly, very few. Alright, alright - there are actually NO special features besides run of the mill subtitles and chapter selection (I think), but I still recommend that you buy the DVD version of this film as the sound and picture quality are excellent and it is quite a rare title so would be a good addition to any collection. I say, buy this DVD and hope to god that they bring out the superior version from the US some time soon.
UK DVD:
- Terry And June - Series 2
- The Big Lebowski [HD DVD] [1998]
- The Bounder - Complete [1982]
- The Brittas Empire: Complete BBC Series 1-7 Box Set [1991]
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- The Freddie Starr Collection
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