but it lacked...something. I can't quite put my finger on what made this movie fall short of the mark for a "good film"...
I agree. I understand that the movie attempted to focus on the small, inner workings of an otherwise large calamity. And in the few instances that it was successful in doing that, it worked. (When Deanna removes Alicia's glove, for example.) But those moments were too few and far between. More often than not the acting was way over the top, and that made the characters unbelievable and unlikable. (And did Busy Phillips go out of her way to speak in such an annoying, nasal voice?)
It also felt too contrived (i.e. the cop bonded with the kid he'd beaten up back in high school, so the principal decides to try to have Alicia and Deanna bond?) The principal threatens to fail Alicia if she doesn't go to see Deanna?!! (I really didn't like that.) Weeks after the shooting the police decide to check lockers? At first Deanna presents herself as a disenfranchised brainy nerd, then later on she's shown rolling up to school in her BMW convertible. Alicia delivers a "Midnight Express" declaration to Deanna ("Get out of here or you'll die", etc.)
And what about the trauma Alicia had gone through as a result of the shooting? That was totally ignored, purportedly in the name of determining what, if any, connection she had had to the shooter, while scapegoating her through most of the movie because "the families needed answers". (And seriously...what kind of case could they have possibly made against Alicia anyway?) The gathering together in the classroom towards the end. The graduation. It just felt disjointed and not right at all.
This movie had the potential to be something special. In the end, however, it had the feel of a bad made for TV movie.
The whole world is a very narrow bridge. The key is to be fearless. R' Nachman of Breslov
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