Mirren's stellar performance makes 'Mrs. Tingle' bearable

"Teaching Mrs. Tingle"

Directed by: Kevin Williamson

Starring: Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Barry Watson, Marisa Coughlan

Rated: PG-13

For the younger set (this film has a friendly PG-13 rating), I'm sure the excitement lies in the fact that "Scream" writer Kevin Williamson and "Dawson's Creek" star Katie Holmes are connected with the project. For the more mature moviegoer I have but two words: Helen Mirren. Her performance saves "Teaching Mrs. Tingle."

Williamson, as a screenwriter, tapped into a teen angst-driven market that has redefined the modern horror film. Not only did he write "Scream," he also gave us "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Dawson's Creek."

Ms. Holmes became part of modern teen culture in the latter.

With his directorial debut in "Teaching Mrs. Tingle," Williamson seems to be taking aim at all of the authority figures in his life that apparently told him, "You'll never be a writer." Maybe not, but he'll be a multimillionaire.

This film, originally titled "Killing Mrs. Tingle," has taken a fair amount of criticism for its theme, and in the wake of the recent violence at public schools, this may be a valid point.

On the other hand, to borrow a phrase from the gun lobby, "Movies don't kill people, people do." Or is it, "guns do?"

Truthfully, I never even thought about "Mrs. Tingle" as being an incitement to violence until I heard a news story about the whole affair.

At any rate, every student maladjusted or not has, at some point, had fantasies about making teachers pay for the gross injustices being served.

In the case of "Mrs. Tingle," payback, even revenge, is not only sweet but possibly justifiable. I'm talking about only in a movie, believe me. Movies are about escapism, aren't they? I watched the Three Stooges for years and still have never hit anyone on the head with a hammer or poked anyone in the eyes.

Mrs. Tingle, the high school history teacher played by Helen Mirren, is a witch of the first order.

The film opens during the last week of school, and all of the kids in Mrs. Tingle's class are presenting their year-end history projects. Some are clever, some not so, but Tingle greets them all with the same cynical sarcasm and shoots (verbally and emotionally, I mean) each student down in turn.

Leigh Ann Watson, played by Katie Holmes, is an aspiring writer who is counting on her grades to get a scholarship to help with college. While Mrs. Tingle dislikes one and all, she seems to have a particular distaste for Leigh Ann.

Leigh Ann's project is a well-written and impeccably presented journal that chronicles a year in the life of a young girl accused of witchcraft during the Salem trials. Tingle is unimpressed. Without a good grade in history, Leigh Ann will not qualify for her scholarship.

Coming to Leigh Ann's rescue is Luke, a slacker dude who has stolen Tingle's final exam. He gives it to Leigh Ann to ensure she'll get an A.

Leigh Ann, of course, is against the entire thing and wouldn't think of cheating. This becomes a moot point when Mrs. Tingle discovers the purloined paper in Leigh Ann's backpack.

Leigh Ann, Luke and Leigh Ann's best friend, Jo Lynn, go to Mrs. Tingle's house to try a reasoned argument. By this point, we already know that, if anything else, Eve Tingle is not reasonable.

A kidnap-and-hostage situation ensues, and the three teens quickly get in deeper than they ever could have imagined.

"Teaching Mrs. Tingle" isn't very sharply scripted and could have been a much better film, although that probably would have ensured an R rating and made people even more upset.

What saves it, and makes it entirely watchable, are the formidable talents of Helen Mirren as Mrs. Tingle. There's not one instant in the film where she lets go of her character, and she'll chill all of us who still have nightmares about being back in school.

Mirren is a respected British stage actress whose first big film role was in Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover." Since then she's done nothing but excellent work, including her Oscar-nominated role as Queen Charlotte in "The Madness of King George," and her much overlooked portrayal as the mother of an Irish freedom fighter in 1997's "Some Mother's Son."

I had a lot of problems with it, but based on Mirren's performance she deserves an Oscar nomination at the very least I'd recommend seeing "Teaching Mrs. Tingle."

And remember, "Crossbows don't kill people. People (or is it arrows?) do."

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)