Fatal Lessons: The Good Teacher (2004)

The Age of Commercialism

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Gold digging poisoner/femme fatale extraordinaire Victoria (Erika Eleniak) is fresh from her last caper and eying a new one. She adopts a new identity and takes a job in a small town as a schoolteacher.Quickly she targets a wealthy young couple with two children, one of whom is a pupil of hers. She becomes best friends with the wife and her gullible husband and continues to weasel her way into their lives stealthily threatening all that they hold dear. They come to find that the truth about Victoria is much darker than they ever could have imagined but it might be too late.Eleniak was Playboy magazine's Miss July for 1989. Often people define her by that title only. But she is arguably the very best of Playboy Playmates turned Hollywood actresses. In fact she was an actress (Child star) before she ever posed for Playboy. That was her in E.T. getting kissed by Elliott in the classroom scene. In feature film roles like Under Siege and Chasers she was more than passable. In this one however she bit off way more than she could chew and it comes off like a bad caricature.Ex-TV star Patricia Kalember (Thirtysomething) is not very convincing in her role as the wife/heroine. She does not play the role as the classic passive victim we are used to seeing in movies. Her own pro-activeness actually gets her into trouble and allows her to shape the plot.But she seems to look down upon the material here as well as the production itself. I do not just find her unconvincing as the character she plays. I actually think her distaste for the work she has settled for in this drek comes through despite whatever professional face she may have put on during shooting. She looks like she knows this one was headed direct to video or cable. Could she have known where it really did end up? Specifically, it is being marketed as a discount item for sale in dollar stores by an outfit known as Direct Source Special Products. Can you guess what price it commands? This looks like a TV movie and plays much like any movie of the week has but particularly like the not very good ones. It gives you some idea of why TV movies of the week are looked down on by audiences and often snubbed by actors who are offered roles in them.The controversial subject matter designed to win over audiences is another one of those Hollywood thriller clichés. Eleniak's character is to teachers here what Glenn Close was to mistresses in Fatal Attraction.As in other movies made for the small screen much of what is shown is sanitized, the supporting characters are played by no-name actors and the location is British Columbia doubling for the American Pacific Northwest. Casting was actually key in producing the dud that this turned out to be. The no-name actors in supporting roles are no-names for a reason. A non-descript guy portraying a Floridian victim of the title temptress spouts off his lines with an unmistakable Canadian accent.

. . . is that you often end up cheering for the villain. (Well, at least I do.) "The Good Teacher" is no exception. What makes it mildly interesting is that as the killer's psychosis is presented as a fait accompli -- from her first scenes, the audience knows she's a predatory lunatic and the film's mildest suspense and dramatic irony is generated by how long it takes for the intended victims to figure it out. However, the psycho, as played by Erica Eleniak, is so brittle and blatantly manipulative that the rest of the characters have to be thoroughgoing dimwits to figure it out. And Jesus, they are -- every stalker should have such clueless prey. The good doctor, his devoted wife and cute children (the boy who plays the pre-teen son may be the worst child actor in history) are so damn gullible you start to think they deserve their impending doom. Erica Eleniak isn't great, but she's at least entertaining, especially in a semi-comic episode where she picks up a loser in a bar and takes him back to her hotel room for a little "rough sex" that gets a little too rough. The rest of the cast seems pretty zombified, except for the too-smart neighbor and a cute dog that, of course, meets an unfortunate end (why do the makers of these movies hate animals so much?). Mild, mindless entertainment that's almost as much fun to ridicule as it is to watch.

This made for TV movie is a mix of serial killer and other woman genres, that doesn't feature too many stupidities. (The biggest one is probably naming a character Samantha Stephens, as in Bewitched). The narrative doesn't supply much back-story or psychological motivation for the actions of the predator (and her spider-web stockings are a bit much), but then it doesn't make what she aspires to that attractive either - bland domesticity which "grows old". Also the notion of her writing a book of her story as she experiences it suggests that she wants to be caught, because her readership necessitates infamy, with the voice-activated word processor being a nice touch. Erika Eleniak is an acceptable villain, but she can't elevate the role into greatness. Whilst Patricia Kalember provides some tiny moments of pleasure within the confines of her role as doormat housewife, the best performance comes from Lori Triolo, who does wonders with a minor part and thankfully isn't punished. However, the climactic struggle to the death is too stunt-double obvious, with a denouement that is totally unbelievable.

I enjoyed this film. I had not seen Erica Eleniak in any particular role since "Under Siege." And I had never seen her in a leading role. She did a good job as a scary villain -- probably had a lot of fun doing it. Good on ya, Erica!" The rest of the cast was lack-luster -- even dowdy. They did not seem as glamorous as Erica. I wonder if this was an artistic decision by the director or the actors. I assume that this film was done for the television, video, and overseas market. One also wonders what someone watching late night TV in some foreign country would think of the film. This said, the film wasn't bad, for what it is.