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Teaching Mrs. Tingle | 1999 | PG-13 | - 4.4.5

Three high school seniors, one of whom is vying for the honor of Valedictorian, hold a bitter teacher hostage after she threatens to expel them over a misunderstanding. With Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlan, Barry Watson, Helen Mirren, Michael McKean, Jeffrey Tambor, Vivica A. Fox, Molly Ringwald, Liz Stauber, Lesley Ann Warren and John Patrick White. [1:35]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - Some sexual innuendo (including a reference to group sex and a reference to spanking) and a couple of kisses. A girl takes off her shirt (her bra is visible), rips open a boy's shirt and kisses him passionately while lying on top of him; we then see them post-coitus, nude but covered with a blanket (his bare chest is visible). A blindfolded man embraces a boy -- whom he thinks is a woman -- and kisses his hand and mouth, then passes out. A man nestles against a woman's cleavage and we see a few girls wearing cleavage-revealing tops.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Several scenes of threatening with a crossbow; also, someone is almost shot in the head with an arrow (it pierces a book the person is holding up), someone is grazed in the head with an arrow (the person is knocked unconscious and gets a small bloody facial cut) and someone appears to be shot in the stomach with an arrow but is not injured. A punch and a slap; a person is grabbed and choked. Two people scuffle, chase, choke and throw each other against walls (they both get bloody cuts on their faces). Someone is knocked down a staircase but isn't injured; also, an unconscious person's head "thuds" against a wall as the person is being carried up a staircase. Throughout most of the movie, a woman is tied to a bed and gagged; also, we briefly see another person tied to a bed.

LANGUAGE 5 - An F-word, some anatomical references, many scatological references, a couple of mild obscenities, some insults and some name-calling.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Unprofessional teachers, hostage situations, teen drinking, teen sexuality, love triangles, college scholarships, infidelity, deception.

MESSAGE - The end justifies the means; everyone gets what he or she deserves.

(Note: Critics were shown a different final scene than what moviegoers will see; we do not know, and we won't know until the film opens and we have the opportunity to screen it again, whether the scene shown in theaters contains any sex, nudity, violence, gore or profanity.)

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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