Teaching Mrs. Tingle

Infobox Film | name = Teaching Mrs. Tingle


caption =
director = Kevin Williamson
producer =
writer = Kevin Williamson
starring =Katie Holmes
Helen Mirren
Barry Watson
Marisa Coughlan
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Dimension Films
released = August 20, 1999
runtime = 96 min.
language = English
budget = $13,000,000 (estimated)
imdb_id = 0133046

"Teaching Mrs. Tingle" is a 1999 black comedy film and the directorial debut of screenwriter Kevin Williamson. The film stars Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Barry Watson and Jeffrey Tambor and was released on August 20 1999. It was originally titled "Killing Mrs. Tingle", but delayed and retitled due to the uproar over teen violence in films after the Columbine High School massacre.

Plot

Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes) is a high school student who wants to achieve top grades to become valedictorian. However, her grade in History class is threatened by her sadistic teacher, Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). Mrs. Tingle has an especial dislike for Leigh Ann and grades-down Leigh Ann's well-designed project. The teacher also stumbles upon Leigh Ann with the final exam, which had been stolen and planted in Leigh Ann's backpack without her consent, and threatens to have her expelled for it.

Leigh Ann and her two friends, Luke and Jo Lynn, head to Mrs. Tingle's house that night and try to convince the teacher that Leigh Ann is innocent. Mrs. Tingle, however, does not listen. A physical struggle ensues and Mrs. Tingle is accidentally knocked unconscious. The students panic and tie Mrs. Tingle to her bed. Pretending to be Mrs. Tingle, Jo Lynn calls the school the next morning and feigns illness in order to buy themselves some time, but all are unsure of what they should do next. Mrs. Tingle eventually reveals that she hates Leigh Ann because Leigh Ann has the potential to leave their small town and experience life - something Mrs. Tingle never got a chance to do - but her honesty only furthers her captors' dislike of her. She also reveals that Leigh Ann has not got the guts to do anything that will get her in trouble, angry and infuriated, Leigh kisses Luke and they have sex on Mrs Tingle's couch.

The next day at school, Jo Lynn ignores Keigh Ann because she had a crush on Luke and Leigh had known that, feeling regret Leigh tries to make amends with Jo Lynn. She asks Leigh if she did sleep with Luke and Leigh sais yes, Jo Lynn walks off infuriated.

Leigh Ann, Luke and Jo Lynn decide to blackmail Mrs. Tingle by producing photographic evidence of her love affair with the school's gym teacher. Before they can enact their plot, however, Mrs. Tingle escapes her bonds. After a fight at the top of the staircase, she seemingly falls to her death but then quickly recovers, scrambles to her feet and picks up a crossbow. She fires it wildly, trying to hit Leigh Ann but Trudie Tucker walks through the door and gets hit in the chest by the bolt and appears to be dead just as the principal of her school appears to check up on Mrs. Tingle. Mrs. Tingle is quickly fired (although the crossbow did not hit its target and did not kill anyone), and the final scene of the film shows Leigh Ann being named valedictorian.

Reception

The film received some poor reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes measuring an 20% approval rating. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teaching_mrs_tingle/ Teaching Mrs. Tingle - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ] Roger Ebert compared the film to "Election" in its concept but said that "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" fell short of "Election" in wit, and in that "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" had no sympathethic characters. Ebert complimented Mirren's acting. [Roger Ebert, "Teaching Mrs. Tingle," "Chicago Sun-Times", August 20, 1999.]

Cast

ee also

*"Killing Mr. Griffin"

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0133046|title=Teaching Mrs. Tingle
*rotten-tomatoes|id=teaching_mrs_tingle|title=Teaching Mrs. Tingle