Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)

19% of critics liked it
(69 reviews)
34% of users liked it
(44,272 ratings)

After the success of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and television's Dawson's Creek, screenwriter Kevin Williamson made his directorial debut with this screwball thriller in which an honor roll student and two friends kidnap their witchy teacher. Although her single mom (Lesley Ann… More After the success of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and television's Dawson's Creek, screenwriter Kevin Williamson made his directorial debut with this screwball thriller in which an honor roll student and two friends kidnap their witchy teacher. Although her single mom (Lesley Ann Warren), a waitress, struggles to make ends meet, aspiring writer Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) works hard, avoids sexual temptation, and focuses on her studies. She hopes to make valedictorian and earn a scholarship to college -- and get away from her dead-end hometown. As her senior year draws to a close, however, she's dogged by harsh grades from her vituperative history instructor, Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). On the same day she finds out that she's still in second place behind fellow valedictory candidate Mary Beth Carter (Liz Stauber), Leigh Ann must endure Mrs. Tingle's fierce criticism of the final project into which she's poured her heart. After commiserating with her best friend, aspiring actress Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan), and hunky stoner Luke Churner (Barry Watson), Leigh Ann runs even further afoul of Mrs. Tingle; Luke stashes an advance copy of the teacher's final exam in Leigh Ann's backpack and Tingle discovers it, promising to turn Leigh Ann in for cheating and ruin her chances of a better life. When the three teens turn up at Tingle's house to try to reason with her, Luke and Jo Lynn manage to accidentally kidnap Mrs. Tingle. Soon the three students are keeping their teacher a prisoner, trying to figure out how to blackmail her into silence while maintaining the illusion that nothing strange is going on. Teaching Mrs. Tingle was filmed under the name "Killing Mrs. Tingle," but the title was changed after a rash of real-life high school killing sprees made the headlines. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Kevin Williamson
Written By: Kevin Williamson
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 20, 1999 Wide
On DVD: Dec 21, 1999

Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Depressing!
Susan Stark, Detroit News
As a routinely cruel, often vicious, miserably unhappy teacher, Mirren offers a complex, brilliantly disciplined performance!
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
There is nothing funny about the situation in Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
Ernest Hardy, Film.com
Teaching Mrs. Tingle is funny, smart and full of unpredictable twists and turns.
Jay Carr, Boston Globe
A screenful of nothingness!
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
A good mix of the nostalgic and the brand-new!
Beth Pratt, Common Sense Media
Misguided teen thriller -- don't bother.
Betty Jo Tucker, ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Helen Mirren's acting stands out in this mean-spirited dark comedy like an original Picasso in a paint-by-numbers art show.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
Here you have a movie in which three teenagers go to a teacher's house and take her hostage. Either you go all the way with that premise, or you don't go there at all.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...a disappointingly flat piece of work.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Admittedly junky but wickedly watchable revenge fantasy.
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com
If the movie is never necessarily boring, it also is rarely interesting.
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
Mirren singlehandedly rescues the project from being pointless nonsense; this brilliant actress can communicate more with a twitch of a lip or a well-timed flick of her eyelashes than anyone else in the cast can with pages of dialogue.

Read all 13 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Jason O

Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren) is a teacher who is hated by almost everyone, including students and even most of the other faculty members. Mrs. Tingle seems to have a dislike for everyone, even if they're super smart, such as Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes). Leigh Ann must be the… More
Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren) is a teacher who is hated by almost everyone, including students and even most of the other faculty members. Mrs. Tingle seems to have a dislike for everyone, even if they're super smart, such as Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes). Leigh Ann must be the valedictorian in order to get a scholarship and have a chance to attend college. It seems like the only obstacle in her way is Mrs. Tingle's judgement. "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" wasn't a bad movie at all. Helen Mirren does a spectacular job playing as the dreaded Mrs. Tingle, and the movie is very interesting, especially after you find out what Leigh Ann's and two of her friends' plans are to do with Mrs. Tingle. Just as long as you like interesting movies that don't get boring, give "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" a chance! It just might teach you a lesson. NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2001. Never expected to like this one much, a surprise.
Film C

this was an alright movie, helen mirren is playing the teacher who is basically a bitch and is trying to ruin thiis student whose working hard for scholarship played by katie holmes and even though it has some comiic value they are short and fair between so its an watchable movie!
Luke B

Teaching Mrs. Tingle is never really funny enough, thrilling enough or even consistent to be considered a great success. It is however a damn entertaining ride. Like a less serious version of Swimming with Sharks. It's the little guy getting their own back on a corrupt system.… More
Teaching Mrs. Tingle is never really funny enough, thrilling enough or even consistent to be considered a great success. It is however a damn entertaining ride. Like a less serious version of Swimming with Sharks. It's the little guy getting their own back on a corrupt system. Mirren is absolutely fantastic as a supposed victim who is incredibly deceptive and manipulative. She's scene stealing and a great villain. The film fails due to the sudden escalation of events and I'm not talking about the hostage scenario. It turns from Holmes wishing to explain she wasn't going to cheat to her actually cheating and changing her grades. This would be okay if there was some punishment or at least a deeper exploration into the consequences. The ending is far too light as well, a more tragic ending would have worked out so much better for the film as a whole. Still a fun watch, especially for those oppressed students.
Dean M

This film panders shamelessly to the whining of spoiled mall rats (parents are clueless, teacher are evil, teenagers are pure, decent, and loyal). Helen Mirren easily outacts her callow costars, literally with her hands tied.
Lafe F

Kids capture their hated schoolteacher Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). There's some good interaction once Mrs. Tingle is tied to a bed and they can reason with her; she isn't such a monster after all - or is she only pretending? The movie mostly takes place in one house. There… More
Kids capture their hated schoolteacher Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). There's some good interaction once Mrs. Tingle is tied to a bed and they can reason with her; she isn't such a monster after all - or is she only pretending? The movie mostly takes place in one house. There are a few twists and tricks before the movie is over. Enjoyable to watch once, but not a keeper.
Jason S

A poor adaptaion of an ok book.
Leigh R

Very well done.
Nate Z

[font=Arial][color=darkred]The directorial debut from 'Scream' scribe [/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred]Kevin Williamson is in a dire identity crisis no marketers would want to handle. Is it trying to be a teen drama? Is it trying to be a thriller? Is it trying to be… More
[font=Arial][color=darkred]The directorial debut from 'Scream' scribe [/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred]Kevin Williamson is in a dire identity crisis no marketers would want to handle. Is it trying to be a teen drama? Is it trying to be a thriller? Is it trying to be a comedy? Whatever it's trying to be it most certainitely isn't entertaining. Maybe they should've tried that first.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Williamson, the man who made self reflective pop culture references a career and the puppeteer over 'Dawson's Creek', takes a stab at directing his own movie he wrote embittered over an unpleasent English teacher of his long ago. The normal sharp writing and wit found in most of Williamson's trademark slash-and-dash-and-instant-cash pictures are completely absent in this outing and we are replaced with dull cardboard characters, predictable plotting, and poor direction.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The movie is bubbling over to the brim with every high school cliche you can think of. The characters aren't even people, or even grossly overdone cartoons, they're basically cut-outs of real people. It's like every person phoned in a performance and had cut-outs stand in their places. Let's see there's the good girl hero who's falsely accused(Katie Holmes), the good girl's rival who kisses up to teacher (Liz Stauber), the bad boy without a cause that the good girl hates but just can't help herself to fall in love with later (Barry Watson), and the good girl's best friend who serves for the purpose of comic foil (Marisa Coughlan). Have we got everything covered, okay greenlight it![/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]One of the pleasent things in 'Tingle' is Helen Mirren's wonderful over-the-top performance as the misanthropic title villain. She shows how she can out-act any WB pretty teen star that dares vie for her creed. Though for the latter part of the movie she's mainly reduced to clawing and hissing, this pussycat has some bite along with a tongue of acid.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]This effort comes off as a juvenile fantasy to exact revenge upon all those in the educational system that have ever done wrong. Notice that this same idea was used in last winter's 'The Faculty' to much better results. Ultimately when it comes down to, 'Teaching Mrs. Tingle' has a few funny parts, mostly revolving around 'The Exorcist' in some way, and a lot of predicatbly dull parts. Williamson doesn't have the visual prowess to keep a career as a director, and the entire horror world has moved on from the post-irony movement he himself forged. While I do think there is a place for this man's talent, I hope he sticks behind a typewriter more than a camera.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Now what did we learn class?[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: C [/color][/font]
Sunil J

A little silly but still fun. I love Helen Mirren as Mrs. Tingle.
Lee K

so-so but i wouldnt rent it again
paganchild1979 p

I have always like this movie, I guess for the simple reason is - how many times have you thought about doing this to a teacher that has gotten on your nerves!