Le droit à l'amour

Hallmark gives its audience what it wants by repackaging its single-mom- meets-guy-who-she-thinks-is-a-jerk-but-he-turns-out-to-be Mr.-Right patented approach in as many different ways as they can think of. They please their audiences even if the leads are generally plug-and-play, the plots predictable, and the production values threadbare.

Class qualifies for all of the above. But it's one of the best applications of the formula. The writing and dialog are a bit tighter and sharper than usual. The supporting acting including wonderful performances by Catherine Mary Stewart and Eric Roberts as the male lead's parents. The sick son is quite good as is the actress playing the Law School Professor (I remember her from My Family and Tortilla Soup) and the actor playing the male lead's best friend also give excellent performances elevating their characters above the norm. Ms. O'Rourke's sister is also well played.

But what elevates this the most is the eye-opening performance by Jody Lyn O'Keefe. Her interpretation of the very unglamorous and emotionally damaged underprivileged single Mom who never caught a break in life seemed totally and completely real. She was so good she could have been such a person in a documentary. Her transformation is never too easy or forced by the script. We feel her painfully and reluctantly experiencing rejection, then having to mask her scars and learn to hope and expect, then demand, better for herself. In most Hallmark movies, it's just part of the back story, here it actually seems real. Her eyes tell the saga of a woman who has experienced more than a more merciful God would allow. And when her son's needs make her put aside her skepticism to anyone willing to help even though she doubts at first his sincerity (with good reason), then later his ability to stand up to his father (with better reason), you feel these hard trade-offs and what they are doing to her.

Class is a classy effort by all and gets an A from me on the basis of a stellar performance by Jody Lyn O'Keefe.

If you are looking for a movie that will reel you in and create a sense that you may have experienced some of what they are going through but do it in a convincing narrative with heart tugs and some nice dialog,then this movie will appeal and satisfy. I would not put stock in anyone trying to relegate this to anything but a very well done piece of social commentary. I found it thoroughly enjoyable,satisfyingly better than I thought it would be. Watch it with an open mind and open heart. Give it a chance. Downplay whatever you may have read and enjoy. All the lead characters do a very good job and add real "feel" to their character whether it's rich folk or Medicaid folk, there is realism in their manner and portrayal. I highly recommend this little gem to all that would like to spend a couple of hours getting to know some people you may have passed on the street.

I'm only half watching this as I work from home today, but it's pretty bad and very annoying. The characters are superficially stereotyped: rich guy is selfish and bad, and needs to be saved by the poor girl, who is beautiful and good. Given the title of the movie, Class, and the reality that there are very different social and other behavioral differences between the various classes in this country (not to say that one is worse than the other, but it's a reality), i've never seen a poor single mom act more like they were raised in a wasp-y upper middle class home in the NE or west coasts. The actress seems like a rich person who is acting like an idealized version of a poor single mom. Not much like a poor single mom, though.

Also, I had to point out the glaring casting of the lead female, who the lead male initially deems so gross, sloppy, etc that she wasn't even a viable candidate for a secretarial job, until she gets a haircut and puts on a suit jacket, and he's like "wowzers, you be hot!" The lead female, not lost on me, is the same actress who played the super hot ex-girlfriend of Freddie Prinze Jr. in She's All That -- a movie with a remarkably similar premise. The fact that she was the super hot girl that the ugly-duckling-soon-to-be-made-hot new girlfriend was compared against, but now plays the too-ugly-to-be-a-secretary character here -- this is a painful irony that was not lost on me.

Very contrived plot. Almost the entire plot can be sketched after watching the first few minutes. Every character is a stereotype, even their names, and their actions and attitudes are entirely predictable from the first minute you meet them. I remember just one single surprise, and it wasn't much.

And everybody is just too gorgeous. The story might have have been halfway believable if two or three of the female characters had even average looks.

BUT ... for some reason I enjoyed it, despite all of the above. Maybe because it was late at night and my brain didn't want to work too hard. But the main characters are likable, and the right things happen, as Hollywood likes to do.

To sum up this film is easy in a few words, looks like a college student film. The director did a horrible job at containing and catching the mistakes made by the camera department. Horrible acting and horrible techniques. Don't waist your time on watching this film.