What Girls Learn (2001 TV Movie) User Reviews

A very real depiction of teenage girls

[pucelle11 · 16 December 2002]

As a woman, I felt very touched by the two girls struggling through their beginning adolescent years. The hopes (and race) for your period, the love/hate relationship with siblings and/or friends, and most importantly, trying to make sense of everything that's happening to you all at once. These girls in particular had an extra amount on their plate because of an ill mother. That is the very real part of all this. Life is full of these changes, and we have no control over these events and just have to learn to accept and live through them.

I did think the drama towards the end was a little drawn out, even though it made me come to tears regardless. However, I am still glad to see such a beautiful relationship between a mother and her daughters, as well as the genuine love between the mother and her new husband. I have yet to see a man portrayed in this light when dealing with illness. I have also yet to see (in a movie or in my real life) someone so positive when faced with the possibility of death as this. As fabricated as it may seem, it gave me hope and something to strive for if I ever become a mother some day.

I recommend this movie to men and women alike, especially for anyone who remembers what it's like to be a teenager, or is one themselves.

Pretty "darn" Average

[court99 · 1/10 · 16 April 2007]

I got out this movie because it has Scott Bakula, a talented actor, who for some reason ends up in terrible and cheesy roles. If you're looking for Scott Bakula eye candy, then this is not the best you can do - he has a terribly fake moustache and the only scenes he is remotely attractive in, is when he has a singlet on and you can only see his back. If you do watch this - keep an eye on his moustache, it changes size halfway in the movie, he must have lost his fake one and gotten a new one about twice the size. Very funny. Also take heed of his accent, it's constantly changing - bad Bakula, bad! If you are looking for Bakula candy, I suggest "Quantum Leap".

I suppose if you are a young teenager you may enjoy this. It has issues to do with growing up and "becoming a woman", and I found the sibling rivalry reasonably believable. The child actors did a pretty good job. I felt that the mothers relationship with her daughters lacked any chemistry, it was forced and didn't quite strike home.

A couple of scenes are halfway cute and some are tear jerker's, though the part of the movie I liked the best was when it ended. Although this movie was extrodinarily predictable, if against reason you watch it, do not read the blurb on the back of the case, it gives away the entire story. Casting could have been better - Scott Bakula was not meant for this movie. Frankly I don't know how it even made it to DVD. The only thing mildly entertaining about it is the changing moustache and accent.

Terrible, formulaic and sappy with no appeal and no obvious plot

[E-un · 1/10 · 28 October 2001]

Take a bratty teenager who whines constantly about everything and her slightly younger sister, their mother dying from breast cancer (every stage spelt out in far too much detail... and a guy who takes this lot on (poor guy!)

Basically, this movie reads like a third-rate trashy novel and is overly long to boot. It has no particular direction and meanders hither to thither with no perceivable destination. And when it's all finally over... all you seem to have done is wasted 2 hours of your life... ...and then the bad cover of "Every Breath You Takes" starts up.

Yeuk!

A Real Tear Jerker

[CAHopkins · 8/10 · 19 November 2004]

What Girls Learn has an extremely strong storyline which centres around the two youngest members of the cast,Alison Pill and Tamara Hope. Elizabeth Perkins gives a brilliant performance as the suffering 'Mama' and the troubled stepfather is played magnificently by Scott Bakula.

Considering this is a true story the film has been created extremely well and hopefully Karin Cook believes it does justice to her novel.

The bottom line is if you want a night in with a good film with no gory violence and needless swearing you will definitely enjoy this emotive and sensitive film. Which even though sounds like a real bore to some people could be appreciated by all. Enjoy

Interesting story perhaps, but BAD movie

[HansfromGotland · 3/10 · 23 December 2006]

The comments about this movie seems to focus on the fact that it's based on a true story. What has that got to do with the quality of the movie? Nothing.

The acting is actually good, at least the children are great, but the directing and the script is awful. Everything moves at a near-sleep-pace, and the dialogue is throughout without interesting language and lines.

And what about the psychology between the mother and the children. She forces them to move in with a man they've never met, to a house neither she or the children has seen? Further on, when she gets sick, she claims that she all the time are forced to lie to the children, for their own good. OK it's the 80's but still.

All and all, a very unsatisfactory movie.

boring and a sad movie

[postmortemMMXX · 1/10 · 28 January 2024]

Truly a sad movie i don't ever want to watch it again. I love Elizabeth perkins but what was she thinking? The story is boring it's slow paced; about a single mother who is dying of cancer but she luckily finds some loser to not just take care of her daughters when she is gone but to actually marry her too. However this is not going to be an easy task? Is this what its all about? I would've personally left. Why would i want to waste my time with a dying girlfriend and worst of all her daughters who can't even stand me. The oldest daughter seems to be on her period or just a man hater because she is the meanest teenager around. She berates the step father someone who is trying to help them and this just goes on and on....but then what is to learn here?

I don't think anyone should be too critical of someone's life story.

[chrissythecat · 21 February 2003]

I would just like to say that this movie is based on a true story and I think people should take that into consideration when commenting about it. I'm not saying that you can't dislike it or even hate it, but take into account that this is based on a novel written by the real-life "Tilden" and that these were her personal experiences during the time when her mother passed away.

This movie isn't as bad as some have led you to believe.

[wordstormwill · 30 May 2002]

The showtime original movie ,"What girls Learn," is a difficult movie to understand. Especially when you're a man trying to relate to characters which are mostly female. This movie has a melancoly, feminist tone to it but that doesn't make it bad. It also has a CBS movie of the week feel to it, but that doesn't make it unwatchable. The bottomline is this movie is about pain, love, loss and ultimately acceptance. Tamara Hope, and Alison Pill put on noteworty showcases. As a guy I can understand why most reviewers haven't liked it. But as a film lover, I did.

It was wonderful

[MeloDee · 24 August 2003]

Maybe I liked it because I'm a teenager, too. I just watched it recently on Showtime, and it made brought me near tears at the end. (though I almost cried in the Patriot when Thomas got killed). Anyway, I liked it a whole lot. I didn't see it from the start (missed about thirty minutes) but from what I saw it was a good, realistic movie. I hadn't even known it was a true story until I saw another imdb user's comment on it. It wasn't sappy at all. Sure, Tilden could be annoyingly whiny, but you have to understand what she was going through. In the end, she learned to be to be grateful for things. Thats "What Girls Learn".