Class Warfare

This was actually looking like a good movie before the final 10 minutes. But the end (the very very final scene, not the predictable final chase) blew it all. Won't give you spoilers but the ending really ruined the whole movie for me.

Anyway, like others have said, Lindsey McKeon was very convincing. Most of the other characters were fine as well. Amber was a bit less convincing. But lousy script - and in the end it got the upper hand over the actors and director.

So, skip this unless you have nothing important to do and you are ready to weather the silly end. Otherwise, just watch a Colombo or something.

The actors seemed to be pretty well cast, and the plot twists were good. :) The ending is probably a little "too pat", but hey, at least there's justice in the world. And at the end there's a kind of revelation about how it all got started. ;)

As a native to British Columbia, I want to say again how amusing it is that the movie was set in Washington state, but the whole film was done in Vancouver and environs, as well as having the Government of Canada logo prominently displayed in the closing credits as being a grantor of money for the film project. *grin*

STRENGTHS: good performance from the lead actress, a few suspenseful moments, one or two twists that I didn't see coming, and a satisfying enough resolution to the central conflict

WEAKNESSES: horrible music, dumb ending, one-dimensional characters, some corny dialogue, some choices that didn't make sense.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This movie feels very dated, like an edgy Disney channel original movie. It's an interesting premise though, but one that I feel could've been executed so much better if the writing was stronger. This is George Finch's only screenwriting credit so I don't know how seasoned of a writer he is as information on him is scarce if not nonexistent. But this film doesn't stand out in any way. It's just okay.

Despite the fact that this was a Made-For-TV movie (and an obvious one at that: ie., cheap looking), CLASS WARFARE left me wishing I could get my money back, and considering this lame production was partially funded through Canadian dollars, I might just be entitled.

What made me sit through it in the first place was seeing actress Lindsey McKeon, who I've watched for the last couple years in her role as "goody-goody" Mara Lewis on the soap-opera GUIDING LIGHT, taking a turn at playing "the bad girl" for a change.

Surprisingly she does quite well, as Kristen, a spoiled rich-b*tch who suddenly finds herself dirt-poor, but with a conniving streak, and a twist of fate, that will possibly change her fortunes back around. The twist of fate is provided in the character of Richard (Robin Dunne), a socially-radical outcast who discovers that he has just gone from having nothing to winning $23 million on a lottery ticket. Now, put Richard, Kristen, her jock-boyfriend Jason (Wade Carpenter), and their camcorder-obsessed mutual buddy Graham (Dave McGowan) together for the weekend in a remote cabin, cut off from the world by storms, and just guess what unfolds.

The film suffers from congesting both the story and characters'personas and motives too much. Everyone is pretty one-dimensional and it doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out that some things, and some people, are going to go very bad, very quickly. I don't think this is that original a plot and it doesn't go out of it's way to make itself anything more. The acting is OK, McKeon is spot-on as the manipulative female lead, and Dunne is very good, perhaps a little too good at times, but no one else is worth writing home about. The only other real credit I can give the film is the one twist I didn't see coming towards the end (not the very end though, that one is so obvious it hurts). Regardless, I sat through all of it and lived to tell the tale so I can't say it was a complete write-off.

4/10. A "something-to-watch-when-nothing-else-is-on" type movie.

I saw this mini-movie when it first aired, and loved it!It kinda funny to see how far people will go for money.It's also funny to see how much a boyfriend can be "Whipped". "Whipped" enough to kill. I think the cast was great, especially the character Kristin.Without Her smooth talking,and deceptive looks the movie would have not been the same.

I never use to watch USA but now it is one of my stations.