Onde Está Ally?

It wasn't awful, but this movie is pretty forgettable. With only a couple of exceptions, the characters came off as two dimensional, their actions made no sense and seemed totally unrealistic. The actors did a passable job with what they had. The dialogue had a few chuckles but largely felt short of witty, and it couldn't seem to commit to comedy and instead comes off as a not so compelling drama with a few comic moments. I will say the end was unexpected to me, but it didn't really make up for the flaws.

Of course, Hayden Panettierre is really hot, and if you enjoy looking at her this movie is probably worth seeing just for that.

Mr. Ronald Gibb (Tim Daly) is a depressed slovenly widowed high school history teacher. His students are bored. His neighbor Holly (Paula Devicq) is interested in him. He has a crush on popular cheerleader Ally Palmer (Hayden Panettiere). She's in a TV ad for her father (William Sadler)'s used car lot. Smart alec Amber (Sarah Steele) teases him about it. Ally breaks up with her boyfriend Brett and Gibb drives her home. Janitor Gabe (Dan Hedaya) notices them together. She gives him a kiss. Then she's kidnapped from her home. Amber publishes a picture of the kiss and Gibb is suspended from school.

The production is a bit weak. Director David Ostry doesn't have a compelling style. The movie tries to be quirky but mostly fails. It's also not dark enough. I follow this for the kidnapping mystery but not much else.

A lonely teacher. A blonde student. A kidnapping .

Good premises for a reasonable film but, maybe, not enough for decent development of story.

I saw this film being teacher myself and I recognized crumbs of teachers life, especially for meritous work of Tim Daly. Unfortunatelly, , it is obvious , the director knows not use the poential of story. The development is poor, the result - just modest. Maybe, to high effort to convince the viewer and not the most inspired tools and skills for that.

Maybe the idea was good, but the result is just plain stupid. Unlikable characters, bad acting, poor direction, slow development and an end that's supposed to be a surprise, but it's just another blunder. I was angry after losing my time watching this crap. I should have stopped after 15 minutes, at most. Mea culpa!

The Good Student is an entertaining who-dun-it. It is well acted and worthwhile entertainment. Pay attention to the police detectives because the pair is portrayed with a little different approach. I guess I do not know what a "Dark Comedy" really is, but I wouldn't categorize it as such. (The term Dark Comedy is almost an oxymoron.) It is necessary for the viewer to get into the action and follow along. If one just remains at the surface, it will be hard to like this movie, so plunge right in. You will find yourself wavering back and forth as you attempt to figure out who is the actual villain. Just get into it and expect to enjoy it and you'll have a nice experience. If you like a few twists and turns along the way, you will like this movie and find it a good way to have spent 90 minutes.