High School Lover

I guess the storyline is a 70s maybe 80s how-life-went-on.. nowadays unless in the rural areas, you're more jacked up than the movie suggests . Storyline is trivial and very predictible...acting is good at some parts but terrible at the argument/fighting/emotional ones.

Bottom line... if you're 10, you might learn... Otherwise ... don't bother!

I seriously don't know why this movie has so many haters, because this is a good movie in general, and a GREAT Lifetime TV movie. Yes, I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it's really not. These types of movies are meant to be guilty pleasures. I know I'm giving my age away here, but "back in the day", the family used to look forward to the 'Sunday Movie of the Week'. We all have ones we remember from our childhood, either because they scared us, or moved us emotionally. If we re-watch them, sometimes they disappoint, but often they remind us what real entertainment should be - a couple of hours of escape from our lives. This is one of those movies.

It reminds me of another old TV movie called "When Michael Calls," starring Michael Douglas. It doesn't remind me because the plot is exactly the same, but they are both TV movies about psychos, both have big stars who more than makeup for any holes in the plots, and both are enjoyable entertainment. I recommend both, IF you love good old-fashioned escapism.

This movie has believable characters, with actors that more than pull off the roles they are assigned. Understand-this is a TV (Lifetime) movie, BUT the writing is better than most of these and the caliber of actors is the highest. My suspension of disbelief (believability), never wavered from the acting, and only did in a few places, due to the writing. In those few places, I understood why the choice was made. Why call the father/husband, instead of police? Well, it's a metaphor for family strength & unity. I'm sorry that writing choice went over the heads of some of the other reviewers. Not all movies are meant to be realistic.

If you like thrillers, give this one a try, and if you want Oscar quality DON'T WATCH TV MOVIES!!

Here's a list of some of the best TV movies (thrillers), including "When Michael Calls". Https://www.imdb.com/list/ls045195086/

I'm old enough to remember when late 40 something Errol Flynn was dating 15 year old Beverly Aadland in the late 50s. Though the spread wasn't as big in High School Lover, I was kind of wondering who Francois Arnaud was channeling. Could it have been Errol Flynn?

James Franco's high school age daughter Paulina Singer gets comped into a private party with two of her friends Lana Gordon and Tyler Alvarez and she gets the hormones of late 20 something film star Arnaud in overdrive. As Franco is a director he's also in the business and his second wife Julia Jones and Arnaud have some history and it ain't good.

I don't need to tell you more. Arnaud gets some Flynn like publicity and a good deal more than that. Singer was legal so at least there aren't any rape charges.

What can I say High School Lover is as trashy as it gets. Although I can imagine a few years back it might have been the wish dream of any teen girl or gay teen boy to have say a Jonas brother waiting for school to let out on his motorcycle parked in front, these things truly don't happen in real life.

Speaking of gay boys Tyler Alvarez gives a nice positive performance of a gay teen. He's on the lacrosse team and apparently in this high school nobody really cares. Alvarez, Singer, and their friend Lena Gordon are like an R rated version of Lizzie McGuire and her two friends.

I liked how Alvarez played his role and how it was written. Too bad it's part of such trash.

Things I liked: - high production quality - great soundtrack (thank you for introducing me to Prince Rama - not a spoiler, its mentioned in the opening credits) - great acting and cast - a few great lines

I thought this movie worked except that the timeline was very quick and the resolution slightly unsatisfying. That said, it doesn't completely break reality more than the real world does.

I have weird taste in movies, but damn the haters, if you want to see some fun eye- candy marshmallow fluff give it a shot.

This was so bad, the complete movie was a failure in my opinion. I can't believe that someone intentionally made it like this. Maybe it could be interesting if it was done differently, but it isn't, and in combination with acting, transitions between scenes, almost no story behind characters and cliche story, this film was just ridiculous. It managed to make mi smile becouse it was so bad, that was the only reaction I could give, and becouse of that it's gets 2 stars from me.