marbleann Review of Fatal Lessons: The Good Teacher

Fatal Lessons: The Good Teacher (2004 TV Movie)

With friends like this who needs enemies

[2/10 · 31 May 2005]

And I don't mean the villain . This is a movie about a woman who all of a sudden befriends her daughters teacher. The new friend has a "I can't stand to see a family happy complex". So of course she goes out to destroy her family. This movie really bothered me because we have to suspend belief. We have to believe a wife of a doctor a fairly intelligent woman is going to not know something is very wrong with her new friend when things start happening right after she meets her. You see this new friend has a special tea she concocted and gave it to the Patricia Kalember character. This tea makes people forget things that they are suppose to do. So now we have this seemingly smart women forgetting all types of things and acting weird. But not only that she gives her family poison for dinner. Her hubby who before that seems like a blithering idiot decides to test the salad and finds poison is in it. Instead of sending her straight to get some counseling he takes a trip. Oh and the family dog ends up dead. But the most ridiculous thing about this flick is that instead of connecting the dots to the new friend she connects it to her trusty best friend. Even after her husband said her best friend would not do anything to her. They evidently have been best friends for years so all of a sudden the best friend is going to do terrible things to her including having a affair with her husband for no reason. Then she believes this strange man who knows about her new friends past but when he tells her he doesn't really know about her best friend she thinks that he is talking about her real best friend! Mind you the real best friend and her have not been talking now for a while. Or and of course the sociopath writes everything down. So we know sooner or later it is going to be read. The end is very predictable. She soon figures out that the new best friend is a nut it is very anti-climatic because she has read the plans her friend had wrote down. When she finally goes and apologizes to her real friend the friend accepts her apology. I am all for forgiveness but this women all through the movie disregarded her friendship with her best friend even against protests from her husband and let a newbie come in and take over. I would of told her forget about it because I would be weary of what would happen next time she met a new friend. THe actors do what they can with the script. But like I said one has to suspend belief to really feel any suspense, which is OK as long as the movie is Science Fiction, which this is not. I had no sympathy for the so called victim because of how she was so ready to blame everything on a long time trusted friend. I actually was rooting for the villain. Oh and why didn't anyone else in that family drink that ice tea? It was right in the refrigerator.