Plot: What’s it about?
Teaching Mrs. Tingle will not win Best Picture of the year. There are things known, and this is one of them. This movie was placed on many “Worst of 1999” lists, but I really don’t see why. While it wasn’t the best hour and a half I’ve spent, it wasn’t the worst either. Director Kevin Williamson (Scream) has returned to the teen genre bit, actually he can’t seem to leave, in this tale of the students from hell. Leigh Ann Wilson (Katie Holmes, who I really have a thing for) is just one point away from being her class Valedictorian (me not being mine, probably spelled that wrong). If she isn’t bestowed of this honor, then it’s no college for her. She comes from a poor family, mother is a waitress at a coffee shop and so forth. This is her ticket out of this small little town and her one chance to make something of herself. One problem though–her History teacher, Mrs. Tingle hates her (she hates everyone) and will do everything in her power to make sure that she doesn’t accomplish her goal. Things start to happen when slacker Luke has suddenly “stumbled” across a copy of Mrs. Tingle’s final exam. The group of them, accompanied by Jo Lynn the wannabe actress who just knows she’s going to make it in Hollywood, are in the high school gym discussing what they might do with this “gift” when Mrs. Tingle arrives. She finds the test in Leigh Anne’s backpack, draws her own conclusions and just like that, her life (Leigh Anne) is ruined. The main point of the movie actually starts here…The students go over to the house, trying any way they know how to convince Mrs. Tingle that Leigh Anne wasn’t going to cheat, blah-blah-blah. Bad goes to worse and things really get out of hand when they end up knocking Mrs. Tingle out. Now they have to figure out how to get out of that pickle. I’ll leave the rest of the movie up to your imagingation (not like it requires a lot of it), but there’s a lot of manipulation between friends, torrid love affairs between coaches and certain history teachers and the list just goes on and on. This wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen, it was certainly no ‘Scream’, but it’s bearable. Give it a rent at first, if you like it, go for the gusto and buy it. After all…nothing could be worse than high school history!
Video: How does it look?
Still only one out of a very few movies from Disney that is 16:9 enhanced. The 1.85:1 picture does look crystal clear, though. A brand new movie to DVD + a brand new 16:9 transfer = top notch quality!
Audio: How does it sound?
When I first received this disc, it was dual-layered. “Odd” I thought, but put it in anyway. Turns out that this disc has both DD and DTS soundtracks on it. Now I am only reviewing the DD one. Surround effects are great and the dialogue is clear and controlled. Nice mix.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Trailer, and if you have DTS capability, then you won’t have to use your hard-earned money to buy the DTS version of this.
