A Teacher's Crime (2008 TV Movie) 3.5 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:15 min

 Great actors can't overcome a flawed premise...

A TEACHER'S CRIME (2008 TV Movie) 3.5 out of 10 stars 

Time to Read: 2:15 min

BASIC PLOT: 

Carrie Ryans (Ashley Jones) is under appreciated by everyone in her life. Her ex-husband Evan (Tom Rack) ran off with a floozy, and is now trying to get custody of their daughter, Lacey (Veronique-Natale Szalankiewicz). Carrie is determined to fulfill her daughter's wishes, and make sure Lacey never lives with her husband's girlfriend.

Carrie was blessed with the means to fight this battle. She inherited a great deal of money from her father, David (Art Hindle), but choose to become a school teacher, instead of just living off her trust fund.

Little does she know, there are forces plotting against her. Bill Rander (Chris Mulkey), is a used car salesman, and a con man. He owes money to the wrong people, and has to find a way to make a quick buck. He's decided to use his orphaned nephew, Jeremy (Erik Knudsen), one of Carrie's students, as bait, to extort money from her. Bill thinks if he can get compromising photos of Carrie & Jeremy, she'll pay anything to keep them away from her custody fight.

But things aren't going the way Bill planned, and he might have to turn up the heat.

Can Carrie discover the forces plotting against her, in time to save herself, and her family?

WHAT WORKS: 

*THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS DO A FINE JOB I watched this is movie primarily because I'm a fan of Chris Mulkey, Ashley Jones & Erik Knudsen. They held my attention until 1:15 mark, but they couldn't save this flawed script.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: 

*THIS TYPE OF WOMAN DOESN'T WAIT AROUND FOR A CHEATING MAN TO COME HOME Carrie Ryans is a no nonsense woman, who could have lived off her inheritance, but instead decided to become a teacher, a hard and thankless job. We, the viewer, are supposed to believe Carrie fights her ex on matters of child rearing, but let's him run all over her in every other way. This is not the type of woman who waits around for a cheating husband, while he's off living with his skanky girlfriend. Nor is she the type of woman who welcomes him back with open arms (literally), simply because he had a fight with said girlfriend. Not believable in any way (and also NOT a good message to send to women!).

*THE PICTURES ARE TOO INNOCUOUS I'm sorry, but the police are NOT STUPID! Woman with a rich father - then father dies mysteriously - blackmailer comes out of the woodwork with pictures that don't show ANYTHING - and blackmails her for half a million dollars. The police would not suspect her, they would immediately suspect the blackmailer of murder. The movie falls apart here at the halfway mark, because the blackmail pictures show a woman giving a very motherly hug to a student in a public place (a park in daytime). The premise that anyone would submit to blackmail, on the face of these pictures is LUDICROUS! Let's also not forget that rich people have lawyers, private investigators, and pull in general. She would simply pick up the phone, and since the kid in the pictures is connected to the blackmailer, it wouldn't take long for her PI's, or the police to put two and two together. It therefore becomes pointless to watch the rest of the movie, because you're suspension of disbelief is GONE! Epic fail Christine Conradt &Corbin Mezner (writers)

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: 

*I can't recommend this, because the story makes NO SENSE! There's good acting here from Chris Mulkey, Ashley Jones & nm461712. But the writers, Christine Conradt &Corbin Mezner ask us to believe in plotlines that are so inconceivably stupid, they suspend all disbelief. All the great actors in the world can't save a script this flawed.

If you're looking for an entertaining made-for-tv melodrama from Christine Conradt, try Murdered at 17. It's much better, and the plot makes sense.

CLOSING NOTES: 

*THIS IS A MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE FILM, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.