A Teacher's Crime (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

no tension since Carrie never truly in danger

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 13 July 2015]

Couple Carrie (Ashley Jones) and Dean Ryans are having problems. Carrie is a high school teacher who takes an interest in orphaned student Jeremy Rander (Erik Knudsen). She doesn't know that it's a setup. Jeremy's uncle Bill (Chris Mulkey) is in debt to some bad people for his failing used car lot. They know that she has a wealthy father. After he kills her father, Bill blackmails Carrie for $500k.

It's obvious that Jeremy is helping setting her up and it doesn't even occur to Carrie. It's really stupid. She is too naive. The pictures are all her and Jeremy. Unless somebody is following her 24/7, it's obvious that he's part of the plan. She really should contact the police right away especially since there are no sex pictures. They could set up a payoff and arrest the culprit like David Letterman. The movie has no danger because there is a wide open road for her to drive through.

Good premise, good nerve, but fails to deliver

[OJT · 6/10 · 4 August 2013]

A young history teacher is being set-up by a student and his care-giving uncle, which takes pictures of she and the student hugging. It's a set-up, but the student is having second thoughts. But things are even worse...

This is obviously a Canadian TV-movie with production values as one. But with a good idea, and good enough to keep you interested. Though the actors are good, I'm afraid it shines through that something is lacking for this to be really good. A bit cheesy music and happy ending, as you know there won't be a sequel, which nowadays ruins many endings.

The actors do a good job, especially Erik Knudsen, who plays the student. He acts like he really is an troubled orphan on the wrong side of the law, and is able to not overplay.

I see this is bashed by some reviewers here, but more than it deserves. Due to the idea and the drive of the story I think it deserves a pretty good review by me. I was entertained so much that it's easy to see through the flaws. He film could have been way better with more time spent on the ending.

Starts interestingly enough, but disappoints

[rgcustomer · 6/10 · 16 June 2008]

Coming from Canada, I'm dismayed. Let me explain. The movie starts with a great concept -- a frame-up of a young attractive high-school teacher. But the acting (by all actors) is leaden and monotone throughout. All the main actors have done better work before. The script contains a completely unnecessary mob subplot, never really fleshed out. And I won't spoil the ending, but we deserve better than what we get there too. Then, I always watch the credits. So what do I see in the credits? It was apparently funded in part by tax credits from Canada, Ontario, and Quebec. (Credits for credits, eh?) I'm in Ontario so I guess I helped fund it twice. And I wouldn't mind, if I had funded a high-quality film like Water or Cube or The Red Violin or Waydowntown. But that isn't what this is. Although I can't know the motives behind the film, to me it feels very much like a Canadian film-industry make-work project. I therefore apologize to the world for my tiny involvement in this film. Interestingly IMDb currently lists Ashley, Erik, and Chris as also cast in Dim Sum Funeral (2009) which IMDb says is filmed in British Columbia. I hope it is better.

Typical Lifetime trash

[pacassels · 1/10 · 14 June 2008]

I understand Army Wives is a significant departure from the standard Lifetime fare. I assume that's why the premiere of its second season scored record-breaking ratings. Most of the women's cable channel productions are meant for stay-at-home wives and mothers, and females who enjoy stories about being victimized. This one, however, reaches new lows: bad acting, worse writing and a bad plot line. I think soap operas are better than this and I don't even watch them. The chilling message in "A Teacher's Crime" is that teachers should not get close to or go above and beyond to help their students or they might wind up being accused of having affairs with them. Instead of being dedicated to their profession, public school teachers who watch this may decide that they should just put in the time until they retire, collect their benefits and retire with big pensions at taxpayers' expense.

Ironically, I watched this movie on Father's Day weekend when Lifetime was showing "good dad, bad dad" fare. The emphasis apparently is "bad dad," standard for this male-hating cable channel.

a failure of a movie

[giant_marmoset · 2/10 · 4 July 2008]

The movie puts far too heavy emphasis on the weak dialogue. Simply put, the people in this movie talk like books, and it really shows. The roles of the actors are unanimously archetypal and lack any and all depth. Probably the weakest thing in the film is Ashley Jones's acting, which is clearly not at the level necessary for a dialogue heavy film-- her portrayal of a teacher is completely unconvincing.

The plot was not altogether terrible but poor directing simply made this movie an assembly line of clichés (the plot could have been salvaged with strong acting, good script, and a greater focus on either horror, or relevant pressing issues. Not to mention the plot is neither plausible nor remotely menacing. The cinematography is amateurish and the script was overwritten and juvenile.

The part of the film that almost makes it comedic, is the score. At scarcely rare moments when i found myself actually feeling sorry for Jeremy Rander's character, a much too over the top song would start playing. This made the movie an almost unintentional satire and hilarious to make fun of.

One thing they did right in the film was the pacing; the thanklessly weak plot managed to progress smoothly.

Watch only if u get some kind of enjoyment in bad films.

Absolutely awful

[refdan · 2/10 · 19 September 2008]

I was immensely disappointed at this halfhearted effort to produce a thriller/crime story. I was expecting some well developed characters who have more than one dimension and an interesting plot.

What I watched was nothing like that. Instead, the characters are like paper cutouts with no depth. The main character is just too good to be real. Always perfectly coiffed, even after getting out of bed. Her husband is a no-good philanderer with a failed business. Her father is caricature from the Andy Griffith Show.

The basic plot has some interesting potential, but the film makers just didn't have enough guts to find it.

I just don't recommend this to anyone who wants to be entertained with a creative and thought provoking film.

A Teacher's Crime? Or Malefant's crime for making this terrible movie!

[jonathanruano · 2/10 · 24 May 2010]

A soapish film about a student (Erik Knudsen) and his evil uncle (because all uncles in the movies are evil) who set up a teacher (Ashley Jones) by taking photos allegedly showing her engaged in sexual misconduct with Erik Knudsen's character, and then they blackmail her. There are so many problems with this movie that I do not know where to begin. The whole set up is preposterous and the script was not ready to be made into a movie. The so-called sexual misconduct is not sexual at all, because anyone looking at the photos can see that Ashley Jones' character is just hugging the student who is going through a rough patch (though he does not demonstrate this convincingly) There is not a single sympathetic character in this entire movie, including the teacher and the troubled student (the director and writers killed both of his parents off - the first in the battlefield of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in a vain effort to generate sympathy for this kid), and therefore we as the audience do not have a good reason to care about any of them. The teacher's husband is a complete douchbag because he inexplicably cheats on his attractive wife (Ashley Jones) with an ugly, sleazy bar maid. I have no idea what is wrong with their marriage and the film does not really explain this aspect in any satisfactory way, except to suggest some silly husband-father in law tension that makes no sense. I also noticed that, unlike more mature films, the Ashley Jones' character and the husband do not work to resolve their conflict. They just decide to be angry with each other in the first half of the film and reconciled in the second half. In that connection, the acting is terrible because not a single character seems to believe in their lines or in the roles that they are supposed to play.

If director Robert Malenfant and writers Christine Conradt and Corbin Mezner did something creative with the plot, then perhaps this film could be saved from the trash bin. For example, maybe this film could have a twist where the teacher (Ashley Jones) does fall in love with the student (Knudsen) and they have a sexual relationship and the relationship is followed by a betrayal when she realizes that she is being blackmailed. Or maybe have a plot where the teacher is smart enough to figure out that the student is trying to blackmail her and then she rejects him. But afterwards, the student develops an unhealthy sexual obsession about his teacher (Ashley Jones) and spirals into depression and madness when he realizes that she will always be out of reach. If they did something like that, then at least the movie would be a little more interesting and far less predictable than this drivel. Thumbs way down. Easily one of the worst films of 2008.

Great For New Teachers- A Teacher's Crime Rates A+ ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 5 May 2008]

Has anyone noticed that Ashley Jones resembles a rather youthful Hillary Clinton?

Jones portrays a recently separated teacher who has won the teacher of the year award for going that extra mile for her social studies students. Problem is that by going that extra mile, she falls victim to a diabolic plot hatched by one of her excellent students along with his crooked uncle. New teachers should take note: Don't get overly involved.

Nice to see that factual information is included in one of the teacher's lessons. I am referring to the April, 1949 date of the beginning of NATO. Nowadays, facts are deemphasized for more critical thinking. That's why our students do so poorly on history exams. The lack of basic factual information is not there. Yes, the author of this review is a retired social studies teacher.

The movie is intriguing as you are shown how the teacher is set up.

It is certainly worthwhile viewing.

Uncle Bill and Ms. Ryans: A Study in Contrasts

[lavatch · 8/10 · 13 March 2020]

While the film's title is "A Teacher's Crime," the teacher is a saint, and the crime is committed by a tyrannical uncle of one of her students.

Uncle Bill Rander and history teacher Carrie Ryans are a study in contrasts. It would be difficult to imagine two individuals as different as Uncle Bill and Ms. Ryans. Bill has exploited his orphaned son Jeremy in the running of scams. But his biggest blackmail scheme is to use the boy to set up the history teacher who stands to inherit a fortune. In an act that defies credibility in places, Uncle Bill photographs the nephew receiving a hug and a ride from the teacher. He then plans to use that evidence to extort a half million dollars from her.

Just as Uncle Bill is a loathsome, despicable creature, so is Ms. Ryans a warm, dedicated, and caring individual. She has had a rough spell with a wayward husband, and a nasty divorce looms on the horizon. But the teacher remains devoted to her students, especially young Jeremy, whom she senses has no support in his home environment.

The actress playing Ms. Ryans was terrific in capturing the sensitivity, as well as the backbone, in the history teacher. At one point in the film, Ms. Ryans describes her father as a man who was liked and respected by everyone. But that statement applies just as much to Carrie Ryans herself, based on her fortitude and decency as a human being.