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Miss Meadows
Katie Holmes is given the opportunity to prove that she is in possession of some acting chops and succeeds for the most part as the star of a quirky black comedy from 2014 called Miss Meadows that starts off promisingly, but loses its footing as the screenplay becomes a muddle of different genres but doesn't commit to any of them fully to make a truly engaging movie experience.
Holmes loses herself in the title role, a very prim and proper young schoolteacher who reads poetry and wears tap shoes and has taken it upon herself to be a vigilante, righting wrongs where she can because she thinks nobody else will. Before the halfway point, we see Miss Meadows murder a lecherous truck driver who tries to pick her up and a psycho who has just killed three people in a fast food restaurant. A handsome sheriff is assigned to the case but falls instantly in love with Miss Meadows, though he is fully aware of her guilt and in complete denial about it.
Director/screenwriter Karen Leigh Hopkins, who wrote the 1988 melodrama Stepmom is to be applauded for not only attempting to craft a black comedy around a unique central character and risking the project on an actress whose talent has never really stretched beyond her wholesome good looks. The story gets off to a dandy start as we watch this sweet girl, dressed like Dorothy Gale, tap dancing down the streets and reading poetry, but by the time we see the second murder, the comedy in the story begins to drain away. We then think we're going to get a thoughtful character study about what made Miss Meadows who she is. We then get a sketchy backstory which includes the death of her mother, whom we've already seen Miss Meadows have two phone conversations with, so at this point we're just scratching our heads.
Hopkins' direction does have a certain style to it and definitely trumps her writing here...her camera work is often inventive and with the aid of film editor Joan Sobel, creates some startling images that are hard to erase from the mind. Unfortunately, the jarring changes in the storytelling style eventual dwarf the imaginative directing concepts and what we are left with is a central character of whom the screenplay is way too protective. Miss Meadows gets off too easy here and the ending was a little ambiguous for my tastes.
I have never been a fan of Katie Holmes and I can't believe I'm saying this, but it is her performance in the title role that kept me engaged in this bizarre little film. Holmes is cast against type and turns in a gutsy performance that actually commands the screen. It's too bad the story wasn't worthy of her performance. She is well matched by Heath Ledger-look-alike James Badge Dale as Miss Meadows' loving sheriff and Jean Smart is terrific as Mom, but the appeal of this one depends on how much you love Katie Holmes. Fans of the Nicole Kidman film To Die For will have a head start here.
Katie Holmes is given the opportunity to prove that she is in possession of some acting chops and succeeds for the most part as the star of a quirky black comedy from 2014 called Miss Meadows that starts off promisingly, but loses its footing as the screenplay becomes a muddle of different genres but doesn't commit to any of them fully to make a truly engaging movie experience.
Holmes loses herself in the title role, a very prim and proper young schoolteacher who reads poetry and wears tap shoes and has taken it upon herself to be a vigilante, righting wrongs where she can because she thinks nobody else will. Before the halfway point, we see Miss Meadows murder a lecherous truck driver who tries to pick her up and a psycho who has just killed three people in a fast food restaurant. A handsome sheriff is assigned to the case but falls instantly in love with Miss Meadows, though he is fully aware of her guilt and in complete denial about it.
Director/screenwriter Karen Leigh Hopkins, who wrote the 1988 melodrama Stepmom is to be applauded for not only attempting to craft a black comedy around a unique central character and risking the project on an actress whose talent has never really stretched beyond her wholesome good looks. The story gets off to a dandy start as we watch this sweet girl, dressed like Dorothy Gale, tap dancing down the streets and reading poetry, but by the time we see the second murder, the comedy in the story begins to drain away. We then think we're going to get a thoughtful character study about what made Miss Meadows who she is. We then get a sketchy backstory which includes the death of her mother, whom we've already seen Miss Meadows have two phone conversations with, so at this point we're just scratching our heads.
Hopkins' direction does have a certain style to it and definitely trumps her writing here...her camera work is often inventive and with the aid of film editor Joan Sobel, creates some startling images that are hard to erase from the mind. Unfortunately, the jarring changes in the storytelling style eventual dwarf the imaginative directing concepts and what we are left with is a central character of whom the screenplay is way too protective. Miss Meadows gets off too easy here and the ending was a little ambiguous for my tastes.
I have never been a fan of Katie Holmes and I can't believe I'm saying this, but it is her performance in the title role that kept me engaged in this bizarre little film. Holmes is cast against type and turns in a gutsy performance that actually commands the screen. It's too bad the story wasn't worthy of her performance. She is well matched by Heath Ledger-look-alike James Badge Dale as Miss Meadows' loving sheriff and Jean Smart is terrific as Mom, but the appeal of this one depends on how much you love Katie Holmes. Fans of the Nicole Kidman film To Die For will have a head start here.