Katie Holmes does a great job in her role as a rosy, yet detached substitute teacher that educates her young students on manners during school hours, but transforms into a ruthless vigilante killer after work (well, mostly).
Only, I wish the plot was as great. Matter fact, this film doesn't really have a plot. We basically just follow our protagonist around throughout the film as if only to bear witness to her lonely and eccentric lifestyle. Of course, Miss Meadows' idiosyncrasies does lead to the unintentional meeting of the Sheriff character played by James Badge Dale--resulting in a rather awkward romance. However, the movie spends entirely too much time on this subplot rather than the actual vigilante part, which it seems the director purposely glosses over for whatever reason.
For one, her three individual targets are all one-dimensional bad guys who appear on screen probably a combined four minutes total before they are instantly taken out by our protagonist with a paltry .25-caliber handgun that she whips out of an equally minuscule handbag. Listen, I get that Miss Meadows is a dark comedy and all, but given that it's not really a funny movie, more time could have been devoted to fleshing out the vigilante aspect of the film, especially since the "sweat-hearted vigilante" plot was what the studio marketed to the public.
Interestingly enough, the confrontation Miss Meadows has with her new neighbor, Skylar, a recently released child molester, is much more intriguing than any of the scenes where Miss Meadows actually does take out the other three bad guys mentioned above. And while Skylar does play a big part in the climax of this movie, the way in which it was handled seemed very rushed and sloppy.
5 stars for Katie Holmes' acting. She might not get the acclaim of other actresses with K(C)atherine-derivative names such as Kate Winslet or Cate Blanchett, but here Holmes is very charming and has undeniable screen presence.
Only, I wish the plot was as great. Matter fact, this film doesn't really have a plot. We basically just follow our protagonist around throughout the film as if only to bear witness to her lonely and eccentric lifestyle. Of course, Miss Meadows' idiosyncrasies does lead to the unintentional meeting of the Sheriff character played by James Badge Dale--resulting in a rather awkward romance. However, the movie spends entirely too much time on this subplot rather than the actual vigilante part, which it seems the director purposely glosses over for whatever reason.
For one, her three individual targets are all one-dimensional bad guys who appear on screen probably a combined four minutes total before they are instantly taken out by our protagonist with a paltry .25-caliber handgun that she whips out of an equally minuscule handbag. Listen, I get that Miss Meadows is a dark comedy and all, but given that it's not really a funny movie, more time could have been devoted to fleshing out the vigilante aspect of the film, especially since the "sweat-hearted vigilante" plot was what the studio marketed to the public.
Interestingly enough, the confrontation Miss Meadows has with her new neighbor, Skylar, a recently released child molester, is much more intriguing than any of the scenes where Miss Meadows actually does take out the other three bad guys mentioned above. And while Skylar does play a big part in the climax of this movie, the way in which it was handled seemed very rushed and sloppy.
5 stars for Katie Holmes' acting. She might not get the acclaim of other actresses with K(C)atherine-derivative names such as Kate Winslet or Cate Blanchett, but here Holmes is very charming and has undeniable screen presence.