Being from Australia, I found this film very educational in regards to the US College system. I enjoyed the content and thought the film had good entertainment value. However, very sad that money still 'talks'.
7 Reviews
Very good Content
nicolesammut27 March 2021
Ridiculous judgement - Rich gets Richer
mrunaldesai19 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It's so amazing when they say, "ohh it really doesn't matter what school people go to". It does. Ask the VC world. Product, Smart, comes afterwards. First checkbox is "Are you from Stanford, Yale, Harvard etc" if you are, then 99% of the time you get the funding without even evaluating the product or customers. But if you are not from those colleges, it takes a long long time to convince them. Most of them who are not from the colleges don't even get funded. I am talking from personal experience. VC's have these checkboxes. So it's absolutely very important to have a good college behind you even though it's done via paying. But not everyone has $500,000 to do so.
This movie misses the mark
missraze20 May 2023
The movie does a good job of pretending it does a good job, which ironically is the subject matter of what these parents and their kids do. This is a Lifetime movie. You really think they're going to tell the full story to the point where it's good enough to deserve a high movie rating? There's a lot glazed over and omitted and purposely misconstrued. But they have to profit off of the sensational story and make a lil movie.
They are making it seem as if the parents, students, and Rick Singer are the ONLY ones at fault, and those participating members of the universities involved are seen as a select, rare handful of ne'er do wells. When the truth is, the whole thing is a scam. What these parents, students and co-conspirators in the admissions departments etc did differently in this situation, (rather than an admissions corruption being unique from all the other parents whose kids are in top universities), is get caught. It's still happening, with other Rick Singers. There are nepotist, cultist systems at play and full force when it comes to university acceptance. Lori Loughlin is smoke and mirrors. Do not get distracted and do not use her as a shield either, do not throw stones in a glass house at her though she is wrong, too.
If your grades aren't there, certain people know their kids need to get sports scholarships, so they get their kids into extracurricular activities young. Even if they're not star students. It has nothing to do with being a "minority" as this movie keeps grossly saying. Minorities know better than anyone that in order to get into a top college let alone any college, you have to have good grades to stay on the school sports team and then from there you can get an athletic scholarship or just impress an admissions dept. It's these other people who feel the need to scandalize their kids into success and it's weird to me because 1. You can take the SAT's any time at any age since education is your right and trying again is too, and 2. You're "rich and powerful and famous/know someone famous" so why do you feel the need to do this? Just walk in the school and say "do you know who I am?" But of course the universities can't be so blatant about the fact that they do in fact limitlessly accept these "do you know who I am?" people all the time, so they pretend they have a rigorous qualifications process. Now your kid is studying and training to the point of ill health, while mediocre Scott and Ashley related to this celebrity or that celebrity or who have this "legacy" alumni parent just finesse their way into college. Heck, some don't even have qualifications and they just suddenly have high earning jobs. I check successful people's LinkedIn profiles and there are many who don't have a great university/educational background, and suddenly they have a top executive or vice president of xyz role. Check the LinkedIn of your own manager for starters. Mhm. Smells like nepotism/cultism/favoritism etc to me. But then you get model minorities who have this extensive educational background and a million licenses and they just have a regular job. You got a Master's to manage a little iHop franchisee or to be HR at a little clothing store or the check-in desk at a dentist? I don't think so. But Scott and Ashley with nothing or just a regular Bachelor's at a rinky dink college but maybe went to a great preparatory high school academy manage a hedge fund or are vice prez at a huge corp. So the point is...we're playing their game.
These celebrities aren't stupid enough to get caught up like this. Something's always in it for them no matter how you or I may think they are stupid. Wool is always pulled over our eyes. Now, yes, many celebrities are much dumber than everyday civilians who are successful. In fact, everyday civilians who are successful make celebrities what they are in the first place; they manage them, train them, interview them, invest in them, blog about them, dress them, schedule them, nurse them, drive them around, and hospitality them. These everyday smarter rich people have celebrity clientele. And celebrities need conservatorships because their lifestyle and financial stupidity shows everyday. Thus you get Rick Singers, Epsteins and Madoffs profiting off of this rich stupidity. And this rich stupidity is used institutionally and no one says anything because these rich stupid celebrity's kids are attending school with each other and the kids of these smart rich everyday people who work with these celebs. Now these kids grow up privy to what their parents do, and what their parents do for THEM. Now there's a cult/culture of nepotizing your kids into this opportunity, this university, this apartment/studio/home. And guess who's stupidly competing with these nepotist cultists? You and me. Well I'm not going too, but clearly you people still are. Because people are still busting their butt trying to get into certain universities when, no matter what you probably do, you will not get accepted to these elite universities and even if you do get accepted, why the freak would you want to?! Unless of course you finessed your way in. There's ALWAYS a finesse, I'm not buying it that this is the only scandal.
A standard finesse is to get your kid into a sport or music training at school. You knock on their door at night to remind them what's at stake without saying what's at stake. This movie shows the parent sermonizing to their kids what's at stake, and some parents out there do boot camp their kids to do well at school. Now the universities want to scapegoat these rich stupid celebrities, when everyone involved including the celebs are equally nefarious, arriviste and unscrupulous and corrupt and downright nasty. And this movie seems to want to just make it seem like the parents put the universities in a bad position, as if the universities were fooled or lied to or deceived. As if their other students have not done this or some other kind of corruption or ruthless finesse. No. These schools know their lights stay on due to rich stupidity of celebs and the cleverness of the smarter everyday rich people. These schools know if the applicant isn't rich, that they know how to finesse otherwise via a sport scholarship and the rare type, excellent grades. It's the morons who try to get in with genuine grades excellence though. You're not getting picked on for being smart due to jealousy. It's because you're doing something unnecessary, and people are snickering behind their hands at you. Of course it depends on the scholarship but the catch 22 is that if everyone figures out one way to win at a competition (this case, the competition is university acceptance) then that way is now nullified since it becomes a saturated pool. So now you need to one-up that pool and arch over that competition, right?
Why do you think there is so much racism? If the black or asian kid excels at a school full of white people, or if black neighborhoods have highly performing local schools, either way white people's opportunities are compromised. The finessing starts from day one in kindergarten the area where you want to raise your kid from scratch, not on the day that Felicity Huffman a rich stupid celebrity agreed to work with a guy who's long acquired insane riches from doing the very same thing 100s of times, no matter what the news does to sensationalize it as a rare celebrity scandal. I'm not stupid. There's been a number of finesses to solidify your stupid kid's future. Most people just aren't stupid about it. They put it all off on their kids. That's why I don't understand the people who stereotype black kids as being good at basketball and football and track or hispanics being good at soccer and baseball. Those are top sports that white and asian kids do all the time too lol. And this is a form of finessing your way into university. If you have literally figured out a way to win in a competition, it's a scandal already. Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were either just stupid (they are celebrities, who are stupid; most celebs did not even finish middle school LOL) or they are still stupid, but they must have known they were going to get exposed. However like I said it's all smoke and mirrors. There are 1000s and 1000s of Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, NYU, etc alumni/current students/legacy applicants who know that they "figured out a way." Just play this sport in high school and you'll be fine. Model minorities don't feel confident doing just that, so they like to excel academically too. But for the most part, it's not needed. Scandalize your SAT/ACT store, use your parents being alumni/rich/celebrities, and play this sport. The "losers" in life (you and me) didn't know this and thought we actually had to get great grades. I have to laugh.
You think Stanford etc are good schools because their acceptance rate is low? It's a pyramid scheme profiting off the self worth of these children and their deranged old-school parents who traditionalize getting a degree as the best thing ever. Their acceptance rate isn't low because the required SAT scores are so high. SAT's are a joke anyway. SAT's are a front criterion. Their acceptance rate is low because only a oligarchy of the nation and world's population not only has the money to buy their way into the school but also has the knowledge to do it. Where else do the schools get their money? The sky? And now why would you carry on that sick culture of corruption by pressuring your non-rich or nonwhite child to get into a school? LOL. Stop it. Many great non elite universities will take no SAT at all, or a 900-1200. Stanford ridiculously asks for a 1400+. Now that's not unattainable. It's all rote and some studying and some cheating (don't lie). Everyone has the opportunity to highly score on the SAT, great news right? I'm sure many people with that SAT score still don't get in, though, too right? Screw college. Get a License/Certification and a job and get over it.
They are making it seem as if the parents, students, and Rick Singer are the ONLY ones at fault, and those participating members of the universities involved are seen as a select, rare handful of ne'er do wells. When the truth is, the whole thing is a scam. What these parents, students and co-conspirators in the admissions departments etc did differently in this situation, (rather than an admissions corruption being unique from all the other parents whose kids are in top universities), is get caught. It's still happening, with other Rick Singers. There are nepotist, cultist systems at play and full force when it comes to university acceptance. Lori Loughlin is smoke and mirrors. Do not get distracted and do not use her as a shield either, do not throw stones in a glass house at her though she is wrong, too.
If your grades aren't there, certain people know their kids need to get sports scholarships, so they get their kids into extracurricular activities young. Even if they're not star students. It has nothing to do with being a "minority" as this movie keeps grossly saying. Minorities know better than anyone that in order to get into a top college let alone any college, you have to have good grades to stay on the school sports team and then from there you can get an athletic scholarship or just impress an admissions dept. It's these other people who feel the need to scandalize their kids into success and it's weird to me because 1. You can take the SAT's any time at any age since education is your right and trying again is too, and 2. You're "rich and powerful and famous/know someone famous" so why do you feel the need to do this? Just walk in the school and say "do you know who I am?" But of course the universities can't be so blatant about the fact that they do in fact limitlessly accept these "do you know who I am?" people all the time, so they pretend they have a rigorous qualifications process. Now your kid is studying and training to the point of ill health, while mediocre Scott and Ashley related to this celebrity or that celebrity or who have this "legacy" alumni parent just finesse their way into college. Heck, some don't even have qualifications and they just suddenly have high earning jobs. I check successful people's LinkedIn profiles and there are many who don't have a great university/educational background, and suddenly they have a top executive or vice president of xyz role. Check the LinkedIn of your own manager for starters. Mhm. Smells like nepotism/cultism/favoritism etc to me. But then you get model minorities who have this extensive educational background and a million licenses and they just have a regular job. You got a Master's to manage a little iHop franchisee or to be HR at a little clothing store or the check-in desk at a dentist? I don't think so. But Scott and Ashley with nothing or just a regular Bachelor's at a rinky dink college but maybe went to a great preparatory high school academy manage a hedge fund or are vice prez at a huge corp. So the point is...we're playing their game.
These celebrities aren't stupid enough to get caught up like this. Something's always in it for them no matter how you or I may think they are stupid. Wool is always pulled over our eyes. Now, yes, many celebrities are much dumber than everyday civilians who are successful. In fact, everyday civilians who are successful make celebrities what they are in the first place; they manage them, train them, interview them, invest in them, blog about them, dress them, schedule them, nurse them, drive them around, and hospitality them. These everyday smarter rich people have celebrity clientele. And celebrities need conservatorships because their lifestyle and financial stupidity shows everyday. Thus you get Rick Singers, Epsteins and Madoffs profiting off of this rich stupidity. And this rich stupidity is used institutionally and no one says anything because these rich stupid celebrity's kids are attending school with each other and the kids of these smart rich everyday people who work with these celebs. Now these kids grow up privy to what their parents do, and what their parents do for THEM. Now there's a cult/culture of nepotizing your kids into this opportunity, this university, this apartment/studio/home. And guess who's stupidly competing with these nepotist cultists? You and me. Well I'm not going too, but clearly you people still are. Because people are still busting their butt trying to get into certain universities when, no matter what you probably do, you will not get accepted to these elite universities and even if you do get accepted, why the freak would you want to?! Unless of course you finessed your way in. There's ALWAYS a finesse, I'm not buying it that this is the only scandal.
A standard finesse is to get your kid into a sport or music training at school. You knock on their door at night to remind them what's at stake without saying what's at stake. This movie shows the parent sermonizing to their kids what's at stake, and some parents out there do boot camp their kids to do well at school. Now the universities want to scapegoat these rich stupid celebrities, when everyone involved including the celebs are equally nefarious, arriviste and unscrupulous and corrupt and downright nasty. And this movie seems to want to just make it seem like the parents put the universities in a bad position, as if the universities were fooled or lied to or deceived. As if their other students have not done this or some other kind of corruption or ruthless finesse. No. These schools know their lights stay on due to rich stupidity of celebs and the cleverness of the smarter everyday rich people. These schools know if the applicant isn't rich, that they know how to finesse otherwise via a sport scholarship and the rare type, excellent grades. It's the morons who try to get in with genuine grades excellence though. You're not getting picked on for being smart due to jealousy. It's because you're doing something unnecessary, and people are snickering behind their hands at you. Of course it depends on the scholarship but the catch 22 is that if everyone figures out one way to win at a competition (this case, the competition is university acceptance) then that way is now nullified since it becomes a saturated pool. So now you need to one-up that pool and arch over that competition, right?
Why do you think there is so much racism? If the black or asian kid excels at a school full of white people, or if black neighborhoods have highly performing local schools, either way white people's opportunities are compromised. The finessing starts from day one in kindergarten the area where you want to raise your kid from scratch, not on the day that Felicity Huffman a rich stupid celebrity agreed to work with a guy who's long acquired insane riches from doing the very same thing 100s of times, no matter what the news does to sensationalize it as a rare celebrity scandal. I'm not stupid. There's been a number of finesses to solidify your stupid kid's future. Most people just aren't stupid about it. They put it all off on their kids. That's why I don't understand the people who stereotype black kids as being good at basketball and football and track or hispanics being good at soccer and baseball. Those are top sports that white and asian kids do all the time too lol. And this is a form of finessing your way into university. If you have literally figured out a way to win in a competition, it's a scandal already. Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were either just stupid (they are celebrities, who are stupid; most celebs did not even finish middle school LOL) or they are still stupid, but they must have known they were going to get exposed. However like I said it's all smoke and mirrors. There are 1000s and 1000s of Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, NYU, etc alumni/current students/legacy applicants who know that they "figured out a way." Just play this sport in high school and you'll be fine. Model minorities don't feel confident doing just that, so they like to excel academically too. But for the most part, it's not needed. Scandalize your SAT/ACT store, use your parents being alumni/rich/celebrities, and play this sport. The "losers" in life (you and me) didn't know this and thought we actually had to get great grades. I have to laugh.
You think Stanford etc are good schools because their acceptance rate is low? It's a pyramid scheme profiting off the self worth of these children and their deranged old-school parents who traditionalize getting a degree as the best thing ever. Their acceptance rate isn't low because the required SAT scores are so high. SAT's are a joke anyway. SAT's are a front criterion. Their acceptance rate is low because only a oligarchy of the nation and world's population not only has the money to buy their way into the school but also has the knowledge to do it. Where else do the schools get their money? The sky? And now why would you carry on that sick culture of corruption by pressuring your non-rich or nonwhite child to get into a school? LOL. Stop it. Many great non elite universities will take no SAT at all, or a 900-1200. Stanford ridiculously asks for a 1400+. Now that's not unattainable. It's all rote and some studying and some cheating (don't lie). Everyone has the opportunity to highly score on the SAT, great news right? I'm sure many people with that SAT score still don't get in, though, too right? Screw college. Get a License/Certification and a job and get over it.
Really good look at the scandal from within
phd_travel14 October 2019
Very well written acted and directed. Lifetime has done a good job at showing the scandal from the point of view of the parents and the children. Managed to incorporate in a composite manner the details and aspects that we know from the headlines. It's nice to go beyond the headlines into their homes to see the detailed genesis of the crime from good intentions and love of their kids to over the line. Felicity and Lori aren't portrayed as characters. But we know who is based on who roughly. Really found Penélope Anne Miller sympathetic as the anxious mom faking her unknowing son's scores and sports record for a place in Stanford. Mia Kirchner is great as a different kind of mom pushier and less repentant. Really hams it up here in this juicy role. There are some pretty funny moments along the way. But things get serious when we get to see the fallout on the kids who have to face the consequences of exposure. The most moving aftermath I've seen in a Lifetime movie for a while.
Highly recommended
Highly recommended
"Operation Varsity Blues" Exposed!!!
lavatch10 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This is the tragic story of wealthy, elitist parents suffocating their children.
Young Danny's first love is playing the guitar; he has genuine musical talent and no interest in attending college. Young Emma is only interested in being close to her boyfriend, who had been admitted to Yale; but she has no interest in actually being admitted to Yale herself. It was the parents, led by two zealous mothers, that spearheaded the dirty tricks and sweetheart deals to have their kids admitted to prestigious universities. Were the parents doing it for the kids, or for themselves?
Operation Varsity Blues led to a total of 50 indictments, 35 of which were parents. Nearly $25 million in bribes exchanged hands in order to pull the strings. Coaches were indicted from Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, University of Texas, USC, Wake Forest, and Yale. The sting operation exposed admissions procedures at colleges that were already rotten to the core.
The film works closely to the cases of the two notorious Hollywood actresses for the storylines of Bethany (the mother of Emma) and Caroline (the mother of Danny), who work closely with Rick Singer, who facilitated the hanky-panky with as many as 800 families in the scam. In the film, Rick is known as "The Motivator"; but, in truth, he is The Fixer.
The filmmakers took a sympathetic approach in the portrayal of the kids. Both Emma and Danny knew that there was foul play, but they placed their trust in their parents and easily fell under their sway. In the home stretch of the film, Caroline seeks to throw herself on the mercy of the court and "beg forgiveness" like Felicity. By contrast, Bethany vows to plead not guilty and fight the system like Lori.
The most moving line in the film is when young Danny tells his parents, "Sorry I wasn't the son you wanted." It was pitiful to witness the young people's dreams of playing the guitar and pursuing love crumble, due to the greed and vanity of their parents and an out-of-control system of higher education that has lost its way in serving young people.
Young Danny's first love is playing the guitar; he has genuine musical talent and no interest in attending college. Young Emma is only interested in being close to her boyfriend, who had been admitted to Yale; but she has no interest in actually being admitted to Yale herself. It was the parents, led by two zealous mothers, that spearheaded the dirty tricks and sweetheart deals to have their kids admitted to prestigious universities. Were the parents doing it for the kids, or for themselves?
Operation Varsity Blues led to a total of 50 indictments, 35 of which were parents. Nearly $25 million in bribes exchanged hands in order to pull the strings. Coaches were indicted from Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, University of Texas, USC, Wake Forest, and Yale. The sting operation exposed admissions procedures at colleges that were already rotten to the core.
The film works closely to the cases of the two notorious Hollywood actresses for the storylines of Bethany (the mother of Emma) and Caroline (the mother of Danny), who work closely with Rick Singer, who facilitated the hanky-panky with as many as 800 families in the scam. In the film, Rick is known as "The Motivator"; but, in truth, he is The Fixer.
The filmmakers took a sympathetic approach in the portrayal of the kids. Both Emma and Danny knew that there was foul play, but they placed their trust in their parents and easily fell under their sway. In the home stretch of the film, Caroline seeks to throw herself on the mercy of the court and "beg forgiveness" like Felicity. By contrast, Bethany vows to plead not guilty and fight the system like Lori.
The most moving line in the film is when young Danny tells his parents, "Sorry I wasn't the son you wanted." It was pitiful to witness the young people's dreams of playing the guitar and pursuing love crumble, due to the greed and vanity of their parents and an out-of-control system of higher education that has lost its way in serving young people.
Thumbsuckers! These privileged children ALL KNEW their parents cheated, skipped the normal entry line, and paid BIG $$ for their precious babies way into elite Universities
Ed-Shullivan19 October 2019
The acting in this made for television film which is based on true criminal cases that are still before the courts when this film was released in October 2019, proves that these professional actors can't hold an Oscar to the real actors who happen to be the long list of affluent parents who disregarded all ethics and used their gluttoness wealth to push their children ahead of many hard working and more deserving students who were subsequently rejected.
The FBI eventually arrested a number of these affluent parents for mail fraud, honest services mail fraud and racketeering. Actor Michael Shanks who plays the real life school fixer named Rick Singer folded like a wet napkin when he was arrested and through a series of FBI wire tapped phone conversations implicated these filthy rich and snobbish parents who felt there was nothing wrong in the dirty manner that they scammed these Ivy League Universities to illegally push their children to the front of the line.
My only question....is this the first film in a brand new film genre classified as "(PPS) Privileged Parent Scammers" since those arrested for this horrendous crime of the filthy rich and affluent are only the tip of the iceberg. Suicides are sure to follow which is one of the negative reactions to being caught and identified forever on as a "criminal". Please don't let any of these PPS people's crimes get expunged as a one off.
The FBI eventually arrested a number of these affluent parents for mail fraud, honest services mail fraud and racketeering. Actor Michael Shanks who plays the real life school fixer named Rick Singer folded like a wet napkin when he was arrested and through a series of FBI wire tapped phone conversations implicated these filthy rich and snobbish parents who felt there was nothing wrong in the dirty manner that they scammed these Ivy League Universities to illegally push their children to the front of the line.
My only question....is this the first film in a brand new film genre classified as "(PPS) Privileged Parent Scammers" since those arrested for this horrendous crime of the filthy rich and affluent are only the tip of the iceberg. Suicides are sure to follow which is one of the negative reactions to being caught and identified forever on as a "criminal". Please don't let any of these PPS people's crimes get expunged as a one off.
Passing Grade, but like a C passing.
LifetimeUncorkedPodcast13 October 2019
This movie found a nice balance of creating horrible unlikeable characters. (based on real people, but NOT Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman, or anyone alive or dead... for legal reasons.) while still having the characters be ones you love to hate.
I added an extra star for Emma's hunky boyfriend, Brian!
I added an extra star for Emma's hunky boyfriend, Brian!
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