Fighting the Odds

No More Victims!

That's was the mantra on the Lifetime TV Movie last night. I thought it would be a good show but like I told you yesterday, I haven't been quite myself being so tired and all. I mean, Lifetime + TV + Movie = Lameness. Why do they think women want to watch this crap? They are pandering to the overly-emotional PMS crowd for sure.

Of course, I watched all two hours of it.

The movie is based on the life experience of an ex-parole officer, Marilyn Gambrell (played by Jamie Gertz of The Lost Boys fame). Marilyn grows tired of watching her clients go back to jail leaving their children behind to be abused and neglected. She decides to start a class at the toughest school in Houston along with her trusty sidekick (played by that guy who was in Ghostbusters, you know, the 4th unfamous one). The premise is good- help the children of the incarcerated turn their lives around so they have a chance at a future that doesn't involve crime or jail. But the directors and writers screwed the whole thing up with sappy dialogue and unbelievable happy endings and shoddy direction. Let me highlight the worst parts:

1) The acting is so over the top, you just want to gag. When Jamie Gertz, AKA Marilyn, is passionately encouraging her class saying, "People with HALF your brains and none of your guts are succeeding out there. They have the POWER to persevere and so do YOU!" you want to just look away. Make it stop!

2) The story lines aren't believable. In all my years working with survivors of incest and rape, I never came across someone, particularly a teen girl, that would openly confess her attack to a mixed group of peers- especially when she had never told anyone before. She tells how her step-dad raped her and her mom slapped her when she told her what happened and everyone cries and gets worked up and they vow to help her press charges. They don't ASK her if that is what she wants. They push her into going to court against her step-dad, with her mother supporting him, not her. There was no rape kit done. Do you know how hard it is to convict a rapist, let alone a rapist that you have no physical evidence against? It is really difficult. Like almost impossible. And he gets 10 years in jail. The storyline is preposturous. Give me a break!

3) Marilyn has no life outside the kids. She lives alone. She has the opportunity to go out on a date with a hot History teacher but she declines. Hello! Marilyn, girl, listen to me, you NEED to get laid. When she finally does have a date with him, one of her students calls in crisis (her dad tried to sell her for drugs) and she stood him up. As if!

4) Everyone cries. All the time. The tough kid of the group cries when Marilyn brings him a birthday cake and they all sing to him. You see, no one has ever given him a birthday cake before. What is a tough gangsta boy to do? Blow out the candles and weep, that's what. In front of all your homies, you ball and eat your slice of chocolate cake. Please!

5) Marilyn loves these kids too much. She hugs them all the time and tells them she loves them. She even goes to their houses to talk with their parents. She and Ghostbusters Sidekick visit the family of the boy who was being regularly beaten by his step-father. She says to him, "We LOVE Jamal. If you EVER lay a hand on him again, I will personally see you are sent back to jail." Yeah, that ought to do it, don't you think? Some skinny white woman threatens a big, imposing black man who beats his kid and he just stops. Just like that. Yeah, right!

Aren't you glad I watched the whole damn thing and can enlighten you with my knowledge?

I didn't think so.