User Reviews

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT:

Say the words: lifetime movie and a lot of people roll their eyes. Say the name Elizabeth Berkely and many think "Showgirls". Worse, take a name like "student seduction" which has to be one of the worst movie titles I've ever heard-(and I've heard a lot), and the pieces don't sound as if they add up to a lot. Yet this movie, while not great, was decent enough for me to give it an above average rating and it really could have been a 7 or 8(I think) if some things that went on hadn't been so muddled. But I really did think this movie wasn't half bad.

Most know the plot-a female teacher gets accused of making sexual overtures toward one of her students even though it was the other way around. Nobody seems to believe her-even her attorney and husband at times seem doubtful. So of coarse the movie deals with the teacher's attempts to bring about the truth.

Typical lifetime? Maybe. All I know is the movie had some pluses, number one being the performance by Berkely herself. She was good. Very much so. She actually made me forget she was in a thing called Showgirls and no matter what the quality of a movie, if a performer is good, they should be given kudos. Berkely is not only good but excellent and I am glad she was cast in this role. It was really an interesting movie because it is thought provoking and more then a little scary. I did enjoy it.

Cheesy title or not, I would have given this a much higher rating but for a few things. While the movie was relatively well written and the performances extremely good, there was a lot of things that were frustrating. A lot goes on behind the scenes and the movie never ever really explains why so many become convinced the teacher is actually the guilty party. Id have liked to see WHY everyone thought she did it. It was very muddled the way it was done, and comes off as rather contrived because instead of seeing events unfold in a believable way, we see person after person, start looking at the teacher with suspicion. So of coarse a lot of the time is spent in frustration at all the people who seem to be obsessed with pinning it all on the teacher. Yet without being presented with clear reasons- (WHY did the cops look at her with suspicion almost from the beginning?) it almost becomes annoying rather then intriguing.

Berkely however, is so good, and the premise so interesting it does make you want to watch till the end. I think 6 is the perfect rating. This isn't great but it is an interesting, well acted television movie that maybe at least worth a look if the subject matter interests you or if you are a fan of Berkely or television movies.

This is a movie with ones of 90s after school special or just 90s movie. This does happen where students fall for teachers and become obsessed. I wish they did something better with the ending. Like be in court and see the kid and family lied and the boy gets locked up. People even now a days here teacher and kid raed one but they lie happens often. Yes their really are teachers who prey on kids. It's the worst when a teacher does it bc we trust teachers and trust they have good intentions but nope. But this ending wasn't an ending it showed a kid standing up for her but never once did more than that or showed what happened to him. And if he got away with it I'd be livid. It wasn't a bad movie but not the best. Mediocre.

Student Seduction tries to spice up the teacher/sex angle for a Springer style splash. There is some eye candy for both sides, and a soap opera style fix. Regrettably Student Seduction become another formulated made for T V trying to hit on the female audience play book movie . There is a disturbed student crashes the perfect life of Elizabeth Berkley with an obsession that kills. Rich parents and all the other cliché of t v movies/soap opera story lines. Well acted and directed. My wife was glued to Student Seduction, but I passively watched while on the computer. Student Seduction fails and I give this an F! I give it a three, but my wife says its okay. Watch it with your wife once, but only once. 3 stars.

I give this one 6/10; it kept me interested and was pretty good, but could have been better in some ways.

One thing I've seen in some of the other reviews here is that some viewers were confused over how the perception of Christie's guilt developed. *** SPOILER BEGIN *** I think that was explained to a fair degree by the list of things cited to Christie by the principal. A bit too close in the pool one time, a little too friendly when the car was fixed another time, that sort of thing. Those types of "little things" can add up. Now, you might object that it didn't seem realistic to you, but the concept is viable; all that's required is a teacher who is too naive and then a PR blitz by influential people, like the boy's family. Then people can start remembering those "little things" which they might have brushed aside before. *** END OF SPOILER *** It could happen. How well that possibility was depicted here can be debated, but it is possible.

To improve this movie, a few things could have been made clearer to the audience, and some of the supporting characters could have been more multidimensional. I do think Berkley did well and disagree with those who characterized her performance here as lacking depth. I thought she reacted very credibly to each development and I empathized with her, even though the character's naiveté in getting into the whole mess in the first place was annoying. Hey, nobody's perfect.

It fills in a familiar template at LMN. Elizabeth Berkley is a friendly and happily married chemistry teacher at a fancy high school. She loves her job and her students, bringing the class small presents and volunteering to tutor students like handsome Corey Sevier who are lagging behind.

The problem is that Sevier has more on his mind than just ionic bonding. He begins to put moves on her that she firmly rejects. Sevier is a persistent kid, though, and used to getting his way with girls. Accordingly he winds up assaulting her when she's home alone. She goes to the police.

Need we spell the rest out? Hell itself is visited upon the victim. The good-looking and charming Sevier claims that SHE accosted HIM and invited her to her home and encouraged his advances. The police believe him, not her. They Mirandize her, cuff her, and force her to do the perp walk down the school's hallways. She's suspended from her job.

Not only do the police not believe her. Her principal has doubts too. Her LAWYER's belief in her innocence is limited in its depth. Her husband is wary, lacking in understanding, and offers ineffective support.

Throughout the ordeal, Elizabeth Berkley is staunch and resolute, even as her social world collapses around her. Even as she's referred to repeatedly as a "sexual predator" along the lines of some other famous teachers who couldn't keep their hands off their students.

First off, I don't want to hear of any more boys being named Corey. Or any girls named Jillian or Gillian either. I'm sick of it. Then, too, let us drop the use of the word "predator." Let's reserve it for lions and tigers. Not bears, though, because bears are omnivores like humans. While it's true that bears love to catch and eat salmon, given half a chance, they're too fond of blackberries to be predators.

Second, we see Corey Sevier's family "doing PR" against Berkley. They give their story to the press, hire great lawyers, and appear on a TV show like Oprah. Berkley, who is now pregnant to add to the general sense of distress, nurses her grievances in private. Well, this is pretty hypocritical. The movie condemns people for watching a talk show on which guests discuss their travails, while at the same time this very movie is nothing more than a dramatization of such a tale.

Third, there's nothing wrong with gossip per se. It's a valuable tool of social control and it contributes the community's shared data base. It only becomes destructive when its course is changed or when there is too much of it. In that sense it's like water. We need it. But we need it a glass at a time, or a bath tub at a time. We don't need a flood of it.

Right now, in my opinion, there is far too much of it, a raging torrent of it. It sloshes out of our television every day. It fills the magazine racks at supermarket check out counters. Will Jenny Dump Brad? Angie's Dirty Little Secret! It has bled into our political process. Some years ago, Admiral Bobby Inman, a decent and thoughtful man, was offered appointment to a high office in the executive branch but turned it down because he felt the confirmation process had become undignified -- and it has. A nominee for an appointment might be a fan of the San Francisco 49ers. Well, we all know that San Francisco is a hot bed of inversion. Okay. Tell us, General, have you ever had a homosexual experience? The whole culture is crippled by its tabloid sensibility. The end of our civilization may be at hand.

So why did I bother watching this passion play? I wanted to see if I might be wrong.

Christie Dawson is the kind of enthusiastic chemistry teacher who places in the classroom a quote like "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it." But her idealism would appear to be unwelcome in with a school administration that is working at cross purposes with her.

The major conflict of the film is the word of Ms. Dawson against that against Josh Gaines about an assault that occurred on school grounds. The feckless principal, Helen Davis, inexplicably sides with Josh. Ms. Dawson is only left with circumstantial evidence to prove that she is not guilty.

Ms. Dawson was not assisted either with a lackluster attorney, who never considered deposing Josh and let him incriminate himself. The film started to go downhill when Ms. Dawson unexpectedly decided to accept a plea bargain. This was the teacher who lived by the motto "to shake things up a little bit." It was uncharacteristic of her to back down.

The closing scenes of the film were disappointing in that everything seemed rushed. Jenna Hobson decides to testify against Josh after Ms. Dawson has accepted her plea deal. The dénouement of a very pregnant Ms. Dawson teaching her regular chem class with Jenna sitting in the classroom when she should have graduated and been attending college.

This was a sloppy ending to a generally dynamic film that included an excellent lead performer in Elizabeth Berkley as Ms. Dawson.

I was bored on YouTube one night and saw that this movie was free to stream. Figured that Elizabeth Berkeley would be a fun screen presence (I enjoyed her on SBTB). It was an okay premise, but the ending flatlined. The young kid is totally to blame for the unwanted advances, yet the teacher made some critical errors. No teacher should hang out with a student alone outside of a school setting (when they went for burgers), and the fact that the teacher returned to the school building after she reported the kiss and home intrusion was barbaric.

The he said/she said or student/adult testimony was a constant theme. She went to the hospital after being assaulted, and yet no mention of that was brought up again. Moreover, the fact that the kid initiated a phone conversation would have been favorable to the teacher (just get the phone record for the trial). Plus the investigators interviewed most of the student body, so it's logical that at least one or two students would have mentioned Josh's aggressive behavior.

Overall a dull movie, with wasted potential and poor writing.