Customer Reviews

The Good Student

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This film had potential, but the storyline collapses and really leaves the audience disappointed. First, let me start with the background music. Music plays an important role in a film. The quirky instrumental that continually played throughout the film set a bad tone. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be watching a thriller or a comedy. Turns out I was watching neither. The film lacked any sort of thrills or edge of the seat terror. The drama was at a minimum, and the few comedic moments fall flat. If you're watching this for Hayden, you'll be disappointed. She doesn't have alot of dialogue. If its Tim Daly you want, well, his character is a total bore. Overall, the reveal at the end is a let down. The film is only 77 minutes long, but I still felt I've been cheated precious moments of my life.

This had good potential but it just fell flat. At one point you're watching her pour juice like it is some big to-do. Tim Daly is just weird and creepy. Hayden doesn't make much of an appearance throughout and you never understand why the fascination. Terrible.

Anything with an alluring pose by Hayden Panettiere (is there any other kind of pose she knows?) is worth 90 minutes of your worthless time.

`The Good Student' delivers what it promises, a modern day `Lolita' with little Hayden in skimpy outfits.

`The Good Student' is a dark comedy making fun of modern society in the tradition of `Welcome To the Dollhouse' featuring dysfunctional families, cops, and small towns, all set to a Danny Elfman style score.

Tim Daly (`Superman' animated series) stars as our modern day and likeable Humbert Humbert. He's far too smart and normal to be working as a school teacher in this one horse town. It's implied he is in hiding as he hides hundreds of thousands of dollars in his trailer home floor boards. He also ignores his blonde next door neighbor whom practically throws herself at him on a daily basis for 6 years.

Humbert's only form of excitement is drooling over his student Hayden. But how far will he go?

Unfortunately 30 minutes in Hayden departs from the film by being kidnapped. (Presumably by the school's janitor.) Now the cops and the whole school are looking a whole lot closer at Humbert's inappropriate behavior around Hayden. Every aspect of his life is on trial.

`The Good Student' is a dark comedy short on actual laughs but involving characters we actual like and care about. We are also treated to a healthy dose of fan service via up close shots of Hayden in mini skirts.

This is a must see for all die hard (or just hard) Hayden fans.

If you want to see Hayden in a skimpy outfit, get the DVD, and rewind the scene of her walking out of classroom over and over again. Seriously, there is no more intrigue that matches this whole scene. The teacher (Tim Daly) was so mesmerized by this peek-a-boo action of Panettieres' skirt, he forgets he is a responsible teacher, and that there is another student(the chunky girl from "Spanglish" [not chunky anymore]) watching him. They are the last two students out of the classroom. He gets caught leaning way over beyond the point of subtlety, and the "Spanglish" girl asks Daly, "is Ally's ass going to be on the test?"(I laughed a little on that line) Unfortunately there are no more scenes like this. There was no passion in the kiss in the truck, so don't expect a "taboo" teacher student romance. It would have been nice but, it never happens. The rest is not that interesting. Hayden is kidnapped, so you don't see "The Good Student" very much. Get the cheap one if you buy a DVD. The acting is not that bad but, there is not enough tension between the student and the teacher. If it is supposed to be a comedy. it falls flat. I consider this to be a good review not a bad one, its just that I did not get if it was funny, or an attempt at taboo. I bought the DVD to collect Haydens' films before she gets into the "im too fat" thinking, or caught-up in the Hollywood scene.

Okay, so I ordered this DVD. It arrived in great condition.

It distinctly says this DVD is "English captioned" on the back. I tried to watch it and couldn't. Why?
Because yet again, the captions were NOT on the DVD.

So, yet again, I have had to apply in order to get another refund.

It really annoys me that some companies do not seem to be aware of what is needed to show the captions and do not
install a menu option for switching the captions on or just don't bother putting them on.

This makes me appreciate the hard work that some DVD companies do in order to make sure their DVDs are
captioned properly.

What is surprising about this film is that it is actually excellent if one can let go of the need for melodramatic titillation as the original scenes of the movie might suggest. Instead, if we can step back and look at the town itself and the characters that inhabit it we might see the unfolding of an off tilt American gothic where the dramatic tones are intentionally muted so that we can see the real horrors that seethe underneath a common life where petty envy, unfulfilled yearning, and hypocrisy are vividly revealed through a clever story that mimics a Nabakov character without the burdensome tone of obsession.

I enjoyed the small ironies of the story. The main character, Ronald Gibb, played by Tim Daly appears genuinely shocked when he sees the victim's father, Phil Palmer, exploit his daughter's kidnapping to sell cars at his dealership business. The detectives are replicas of Penn and Teller where the large man is both incisive and sardonic while his partner, ever silent, mirrors the discordance with a pliant face.

The women in the film are given a more compassionate treatment by the director. The kidnapped daughter, Ally Palmer, is played believably by Hayden Panettiere. As a beautiful young girl she of course draws the attention of men, including Mr. Gibb, but unlike the Lolita of Nabokov she is neither precocious or manipulative. Confronted with the arrest of her father for his affair with her classmate she agrees with Mr. Gibb that "he is a piece of work" but "he loves me." This simple phrase of loyalty despite the transgressions of her father is the one moment of pureness in the film that gives hope for us all not because she is a young daughter and perhaps naive but because she tells a greater truth which may apply to us all that amidst the many faults a person can possess he can also possess a virtue...call me maudlin, but hey, I liked it.

Hayden Panettiere (HEROES; I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER) and Tim Daly (WINGS; Stephen King's STORM OF THE CENTURY) star in this great movie that has an ordinary plot. I don't have much to say but it is a good movie. Tim Daly is great as the perverted History teacher and Hayden Panettiere is beautiful as the hot student whom the teacher secretly likes. The movie is good but do whatever you want. 5 out of 5 star rating.

I thought the movie was ok. It had a few twists. Hayden Panettiere as the victim was ok, but Tim Daly pulled the movie through wih his brilliant acting.

Excellant film. I have wacthed it over and over and intend to wacth it again and again.

I can't believe I finally found it. I was an extra in this movie and they changed the name haha as soon as I get I'm buying it