Fugitive at 17

While bearing the stamp of a Lifetime movie, Fugitive at 17 is quite a few cuts above standard Lifetime fare. The story is not terribly original, but the writing, plotting and acting is a good deal more than you might expect. There are virtually none of the standard Lifetime tropes: sentimentality, amateurish performances and warm, upbeat, sappy smiles and chuckles exchanged among characters. The two leads are real actors. Marie Avgeropolous is a convincing and compelling performer with a focused intensity that is not overdone. Christina Cox's performance style is more reserved, but very professional and carefully crafted. We also get production values that exceed Lifetime's bland low-budget output. The pacing and well done suspense scenes in this movie should keep you away from the fast forward button.

As it stands, it's a 5/10. Slightly better than most of you average afternoon TV-movie fare, but CERTAINLY NOT worth it's current 6.3 IMDb rating. I'll use Brian De Palma's "Passion" as a gauge there, as it's rated 5.3, and it's exemplary in terms of production quality and style compared to something like this. Far better acted and just strides better overall.

Right off the bat we see the television/budget shortcomings. Terrible opening sequence with awful, cheap credits, blurry stock, and the whole beginning rushed to-boot, in typical TV-movie fashion.

Then the film gains some steam with a promising start from the lead. Casper is also good as the villain here. As bad as the production values are, the film flows quite nicely, and the audience does feel for the lead character and her plight. BUT!

The acting still falls flat in many places and there are some serious plausibility issues both procedural and otherwise, and the film just ends and starts a bit TOO much like a TV movie. The middle third isn't bad at all, but don't expect much.

48/100 seen much worse. I knew the production values would be questionable but they were worse than I expected. The acting and the flow of the film were better than I expected, but I didn't expect much.

I'd pass. Not even worth the $1.32 rental at the redbox.

In hind-site, TV movies that are worth watching are rare... super rare.. and most that are worth watching were made by HBO films. Brian's Song, Long Gone(Stogies), Temple Grandin... Duel... there just aren't many GREAT TV movies.

Fugitive at 17 isn't terrible, but it did nothing to distance itself from being 'a decent television movie' at the very best. I mean that in the 'this is a basic cable movie, not a 'premium channel' movie' kind of way to boot. Again, pass.

Sorry to disagree with most other reviews. I thought the story line was very good and some of the actors did adequate jobs. Noteworthy the Grandmother, the female detective, Christina Cox, and the friend played by Cindel Chartrand. But the leading player, Marie Avger. . .., was over the top acting and seemed out of place opposite the other performers. Sort of high school acting when others played simplicity and believable characters. You had sympathy and compassion for them. This critic felt nothing for the leading role of Holly. She acted too much in the part. I always like to find something positive in actors and their work. But in this one, I gotta say I just didn't like her work. Maybe too old for a high school student and one look on her face throughout the movie. A blank sort of stare. Walking around so obviously conspicuously that it was funny. The scene in the restaurant where there were two cops, she walks out hunched over with this stupid hood over her face. So obvious. And continues walking everywhere with the hood over her head. I just thought she was wrong in the role as compared to the others. Sorry.

The only reason I rate this at 4 stars is because without the 2 leads this would have been a 1 star execution of a story that had the potential to live up to the 6 star rating...

Marie Avgeropoulos and Cristina Cox carry this movie, it could have been a lot better but when there is exactly 2 people in it that is actually capable of portraying a character in a way that makes you see the character rather than just some person pretending('acting'...) to be whomever they are portraying, the end result is obviously less than good...

The story is decent and the writing isn't horrible but in the end you watch it because of the 2 leads and just kinda suffer through the rest of them...

With Ottawa standing in for Philadelphia which you only see in establishing shots, Fugitive At 17 is a decent enough drama about a girl on the run. Marie Avgeropoulos is invading male nerd space as she is both beautiful and a computer hacker, not the image one usually has of hackers. But it's her computer skills that are invaluable to her right now as she seeks to clear herself of a murder charge, the murder of her best friend.

She goes with Cindel Chartrand usually to keep an eye on her as she's beautiful and a bit of a wild child. But they split at a club with Avgeropoulos going off with Daniel Rindress-Kaye and Chartrand being picked up by Casper Van Dien. Van Dien slips her a roofie and Chartrand dies of it and he attacks Avgeropoulos when she goes looking for her friend. The cops think she killed her friend.

The plot is kind of weak here and a good lawyer would have gotten her off as there was never even a motive hinted at why she would kill her friend. But later on while being transported to jail with some real feminine hard cases she gets caught up in an escape.

It's a good news bad news situation. Bad because she's a fugitive, good because she's free to investigate herself. She has a detective played by Christina Cox whom she gradually convinces of her innocence.

I liked Avgeropoulos's character. She's got a lot of Nancy Drew in her for the 21st century. Nancy could never have kept up and in touch with law enforcement and her father if she didn't have what this girl has available to her.

Casper Van Dien who is usually a square jawed hero reverses type against himself to play a predator. And play it well.

Fugitive At 17, not a bad film for a made for Lifetime TV job.