Accused at 17

This very familiar story may have been inspired by several real life crimes, cobbled together for this predictable exercise. Three teenage girls, led by a bully, gang up against a fourth girl and inadvertently kill her while trying to "teach her a lesson". Among the remaining three, mostly-innocent Bianca is also conveniently mostly-at-odds with her single mother and has left a trail of mostly-damning clues; the second girl, Sarah, is a weak-willed asthmatic follower, and the third, Fallon, is an ice cold, manipulating sociopath. Predictably, the most decent people in the story suffer the earliest consequences, as if to underscore the point that no good deed goes unpunished. Because she is the first to spill the beans, Bianca is charged with the crime ("Accused at 17") and conspired against by the other two. Trying to clear her daughter's name, Bianca's mother investigates but has her daughter's habit of leaving misleading clues when Sarah is subsequently also found dead. Evil Fallon plants evidence and tells lies, and also has a shallow, narcissistic mother who sunbathes by their pool, practices yoga and drinks martini's from an over-sized martini glass. The only familiar actor in the cast is William R. Moses, wasted in a one-note role as Fallon's clueless but decent father. It all leads to a formulaic conclusion where everything is revealed in one scene less than five minutes before the movie ends. You sort of see it coming.

This movie teaches us that bad things attract bad things. That once we immerse ourselves into crime, just like with anything, it's difficult to get out. The more we lie the bigger the consequences. Ending is extremely quick without details, I think that is part missing that would make movie have more that 5/10 rating, But the story is good. Dealing with serious life issues, no joke there. Sometimes it's better to do nothing than bad things.

Ah, the teenage years. I do not miss them. "Accused at 17" largely focuses on how out of control a teenage prank can become and emphasizes this point by death as the result. The most concerning note is that something like this could occur in real life.

It is not so uncommon that different individuals involved with the scheme go on to take attitudes in different directions as the plot thickens and intensifies. I love the semi-sarcastic yet smooth way in which the detective says, "Get what's coming to you? Call me crazy, sounds like a threat" and could view this scene over and over again. It is not the best line of the movie however because later the villain's father responds to antagonism from his evil wife by saying, "I know what they call women like you." That was classic.

Considering that Columbo was absent from the situation, the accused's mother did a fine job of sleuthing to expose the truth. Although far removed from teenage years, I would want that feisty character on my side if ever in similar trouble.

"Accused at 17" succeeds in interpreting teen angst in a justifiably and appropriately serious way, with important lessons to be applied.

Over the opening credits, cameras show a Southern California crime scene. The presence of a coroner confirms the arm we see is attached to a dead body...

Five days earlier, grumpy high school student Nicole Gale Anderson (as Bianca) is mad because she can't go to a party and meet her boyfriend. Instead, she must have dinner at home with her mom Cynthia Gibb (as Jacqui) and a future step-father. While Anderson is at home and bored, boyfriend Reiley McClendon (as Chad) is charmed out of his pants by trampy Lindsay Taylor (as Dory). Anderson learns about the rum-fused incident and is understandably irked. Anderson, best friends Janet Montgomery (as Fallyn) and Stella Maeve (as Sarah) get into their skimpy bikinis, sit by the pool and decide to get even...

She looks a little too old to be in high school, but Ms. Montgomery shows that, as usual, the villain gets the best part. Montgomery also looks like she could be Ms. Gibb's daughter. Anderson must look like her father. The characters are all stereotypes and there is no new ground to be found in "Accused at 17". The asthmatic best friend and African-American confidante are true to form. Men are attractive and secondary. The story is meant to fill space in an assigned TV Movie slot. Some of these formulaic dramas throw in subversion or go deliciously over-the-top. This one doesn't do anything unusual.

**** Accused at 17 (12/5/09) Doug Campbell ~ Cynthia Gibb, Nicole Gale Anderson, Janet Montgomery, Stella Maeve

Well, I will start right off with admitting that I had initially expected this to be much worse than it actually turned out to be, given the synopsis of the storyline.

Sure, this was predictable to the core, and followed the essential "how to make a lifetime drama movie" manuscript. But still, there is just something oddly entertaining about these particular kind of movies in a weird sense.

The movie is about three young friends, Bianca (played by Nicole Gale Anderson), Fallyn (played by Janet Montgomery) and Sarah (Stella Maeve), who find out that Bianca's boyfriend is cheating on her with Dory. Setting out to teach Dory a lesson, the girls drive her out to a remote location, where they play to leave her and let her walk all the way back home. But then something unforeseen happens and things take a turn for the worse. And soon Bianca is finding herself fighting for her innocence and having her two friends turn against her in a web of lies. While incarcerated, it is up to Bianca's mom, Jacqui (played by Cynthia Gibb) to bring out the truth and cleanse her daughter from any accusations.

Of course, you know exactly how the storyline will span out and how it will turn out to be. And yes, director Doug Campbell managed to follow the stereotypical mould to every last shot.

The ending to this movie, was about as abrupt and totally out of sync with the entire movie as it could be. With events that had happened like that, no one would just walk out into an ending like that. It was so anti-climatic.

I will say that the people on the cast list were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters, despite having a very stereotypical script and storyline to work with. Nicole Gale Anderson and Cynthia Gibb did carry the movie quite nicely with their performances in the lead roles.

If you enjoy these sappy kind of lifetime dramas, then you are bound to get enjoyment out of "Accused at 17". I rate this movie a mere 4 out of 10 stars, given the fact of its predictability, stereotypical storyline and the horrendous ending.