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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A somewhat dark teen flick, August 11, 2000
With lots of star power (Scott Bairstow, Amy Jo Johnson, Michelle Williams, and more), Killing Mr. Griffin occasionally hits home because it contains realistic elements of teenage life--at any rate, the life of an awkward, smart, unpopular teenage girl, Susan, who is dying to be popular. Amy Jo Johnson plays this part well. After her teacher, Mr. Griffin, humilates her in class, Susan agrees to be part of a prank that is operated by some of the popular kids, including the guy she has a crush on. The kids want to humilate Mr. Griffin, like he humiliates his students. But the prank goes horribly wrong, and the students spend the rest of the movie living with the consequences of having to keep a terrible secret. Susan is especially haunted by what has happened. Her friend Maya (Michelle Williams) and her family suspect she is hiding something, and Susan is conflicted between doing the right thing and keeping her "good girl" image. It's a bit scary at times. Sometimes even a little *too* dark and edgy. It isn't the best film out there, but it is an interesting story and features talented actors, which more than make up for the dreariness of the plot.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good!, June 19, 2000
Finally! A Lois Duncan movie that actually is LIKE the book. For most people that have seen the movie and read the book probably think I'm crazy. I've heard many times that the movie is NOTHING like the book. NOT so! Even Lois Duncan liked it herself and was proud to have her name on it. The movie follows a silent, shy girl named Susan that is far from popular. She daydreams about David, a popular boy in what I call the "in-crowd". Things start heating up when Mr. Griffin, a tough, no-nonsense teacher, brings the in-crowd to their knees. Play time and slacking is over when you hit his classroom. Of course, the in-crowd doesn't like it and the leader, Mark, convinces the others in the group (ala followers) to play a...vengeful prank on Griffin: kidnap him and make him crawl like he does to his students. But they need a decoy: Susan, who is one of Griffin's better students. Susan, dazzled by the attention of the in-crowd and David, falls into their whims and agrees to help with the prank. But things suddenly go wrong. Yep, of all things Griffin ends up dead by accident--or is it? Now the rest of the movie the group tries to cover up the crime. But, of course, their plans go wrong. The movie, I believe, captured the essense of Lois Duncan's original novel. It has some differences (major to minor), but the point of Duncan's book is there. Unlike like other movies based on Lois Duncan's novels, (I Know What You Did Last Summer and I've Been Waiting For You for example) Lois Duncan's point of writing the original novel is not thrown away to make a cheap teen slasher flick. And that alone gets kudos in my book. Rent it and see.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Would you go as far as murder for payback?, January 25, 2004
Killing Mr. Griffin could as well be true. A lot of people would go through anything just to fit in. But could you lose everything you know and understand in the process? An understandable movie about Responsibility, and Mistrust in the way of fitting in.Mr. Griffin is a strict teacher. Maybe too strict. Five seniors at the school Mr. Griffin teaches at think so. When revenge is the first thought that comes to mind, Mark, David, Jeff, Bree, and Tori set out to find a way to get back at Mr. Griffin for what he's done, but no one is volunteering for bait. When Susan McConnell is put under the spotlight for what seems a harmless prank, she decides to go for it. Besides she gets a couple of satisfactions to go with it. One, she gets to fit in. Two, she can get Mr. Griffin back at embarrasing her in class, and Three, she can hang out with David, the guy she has a crush on. When Susan sees what doesn't seem like an inoccent prank, she goes to where they have left poor Mr. Griffin tied up, and hostage. But Mr. Griffin isn't moving. He isn't even breathing. He's dead. After trying to figure out what happened to Mr. Griffin, the six are faced up against the biggest decision of their lives. Tell what happened, or keep it a secret. An amazing story. The characters may have been mixed up a little bit, but it still made a great story. Lois Duncan did well with the book, but I think the movie was better. In the book you weren't as sorry for Mr. Griffin as you were watching the movie. Jay Thomas gave an awesome portrayal of the overlystrict Mr. Griffin. I think they kind of mixed Susan and her friend Maya up on accident. Susan was supposed to be the loner with glasses, and not exactly attractive. But Susan was very attractive in this movie. It was kind of hard to believe she couldn't get a boyfriend. Like someone said before, Tori and Bree were a split up of Betsie in the book, but I don't think Betsie was exactly that "I'm so cool" kind of girl in the book. The boys were portrayed great. Snobbish, not exactly serious. A great movie to the book which I also recommend. This time I recommend the movie first. Than read the book. Either way, Mr. Griffin will die twice. 5 stars without a doubt.
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