La spirale infernale

and others who claim they want to intervene, when all the American media does is glamorize substance abuse.

I'm not taking the moral road here, I lived it too, the person I was married to had to get better or die. This is not a reality TV show. It's real life for some people, and personally I'm sick of Hollywood celebrities talking about it.

That being said, this movie is okay: Sarah Paxton portrays Jessie, new college freshman who just wants to fit in. She is shy so she drinks to fit in and become popular. Chelsea Hobbes is good here as party girl. Hard to believe in 2011 a male writer here calls the girl a "party slut" (hypocritically), but why is it okay for guys?.

She at first does well in school, then gradually hanging out with her best friend Shanna, she parties out, even goes to San Diego, is in a video which somehow her mother finds (rather unrealistic, trawling the internet for these common videos could take years). But anyway. Nancy Travis is good as the Mom, who at first trusts her daughter, but then realizes the reality.

The ongoing hypocrisy exists. There are many of these films made "A Reason to Believe" (1997)which also involved date rape. The fact is this exists, and the decision comes from within.It is understandable college students want to bond, and going out and partying is at first a fun release.

No one can decide to stop drinking until they really want to. Some are addicts and cannot stop. If they are regular kids they end up dead in a frat house. If they are celebrities they end up on a boring Dr. Drew show. The fact is society in America has failed really on all fronts the war on drugs, drinking whatever. Most of it is political posturing.

The only decent advice is talk to the student, if you are a friend, or anyone who cares about the person. Judgment doesn't help, the media doesn't help, intervention rarely helps. It's up to the individual.

In the meantime don't watch reality garbage about Charlie Sheen and celebrities which continue to glamorize substance abuse. That's the problem in this country. Even people like Dr. Drew a medical doctor touting he wants to help the addict is really just making money off addiction (soon as I saw Mackenzie Phillips on his "HLN channel" show I turned it off).

The fact is kids are going to do what they want especially away at school. The parent chooses to discuss it or not. The rest is your own reality.

really no surprises here, other than the ending.

This was a watchable enough TV movie in a train derailment sort of way. A Lifetime movie with a message. Actually it reminded me of those "after school specials" that were all the rage when I was growing up. Addictive but cheesy, over the top dramatizations of teens making bad decisions and then dealing with the consequences.

Here we follow promising track star and mama's girl Jessie Brenner as she heads off to college. Trying to fit in and be one of the cool kids she soon starts partying with her dorm-mate and before long slides into binge drinking and debauchery while lying to her mother about her constant partying and late hours. Promiscuity, car wrecks, topless internet videos, failing grades and general bad decisions soon follow.

Despite being a bit hard to take seriously, I enjoyed Nancy Travis as the Mum and Sara Paxton did a decent enough job as Jessie. Some of the party scenes were pretty hilarious and there were some continuity issues. I also found the ending predictable as Lifetime gives one last desperate attempt to drive the "bad drinking" message home to young and influencable viewers. 4/6/15

*Victoria BC as somewhere college town USA.

This whole movie is a public service announcement from MADD and other teetotalers. Lousy acting, no story line. Nobody could drink the absurd amounts of alcohol (10 to 20 to 30 shots or more, night after night) that these 30-old "college students" drink. Somebody should tell Lifetime Movie Network that Prohibition was repealed 100 years ago. Stop with the propaganda already!

The movie title and the fact that this is a Lifetime movie, gives you the basics.

You know that this is a cheesy movie with a "made for TV" feel. However, if you enjoy those type of movies (like I do), you will most likely enjoy this flick as well.

As expected, there are a lot of unrealistic scenes. The first thing that jumped out at me, was how our main character is *startled* when SEEING a bottle of champagne. She literally jumps. I don't know who makes it to college without witnessing some underage drinking. Personally, I didn't drink until my 24th birthday, but I DID witness plenty of it in high school and college. Never SEEING people drink is very unrealistic.

Also, her Mother becomes suspicious when she calls her daughter at 2:30 in the afternoon and her daughter is taking a nap. I'm sorry, but is that really THAT crazy? Aren't college students allowed to nap? I remember taking many naps after cramming in the library (and being out late as well). I am a parent now, and I would not be scared if my daughter was napping while she was away at college. They really played that up.

Funny note: pay attention to the fraternity "Luau" party. The guy who asks her to dance - as he walks off to dance, he does the SILLIEST, most badly-staged dance I have ever seen. It literally made me laugh out loud, no joke! I think they also overdid the "binge" drinking. The timeline doesn't add up. I wouldn't call a college student getting drunk 3x's between September and January a "problem" drinker. I would call someone getting drunk nightly or weekly a "problem". But 3 times over the course of several months (esp. in college), is not that insane. Granted, they do show the drinking increasing as the school year progresses, but it still never shocked me.

Also, this entire movie is narrated by our main character - literally, the whole thing. It's very odd. It didn't bother me that much, but again, I think it would have been a little less cheesy without it.

They also have a WET T-SHIRT CONTEST WITH THEIR BIKINI TOPS ON UNDERNEATH THE WHITE T-SHIRTS!!!! They eventually take it off, but omg...funniest scene ever. At the beginning of the contest, the main character is sober and laughs at the girls who are doing the contest. At the end of the contest (apparently after a single drink) she is up on stage as well. So yea...apparently she went from stone-cold sober, to drunk and peeling her clothes off in a few minutes? Please.

Speaking of our main gal, she is painfully thin in this movie. She looks like she suffers from a possible eating disorder (another Lifetime movie perhaps..lol).

All in all, give this movie a shot if you like made-for-TV movies that are cheese ball. It is better than the last few LMN movies that I watched. I don't think males would like this one - it's definitely a chick movie, and definitely more of a comedy than drama.

6/10

A good movie. Thats plain and simple. The comment I read about this not being realistic is silly. Obviously its a MOVIE so its painting it slightly dramatized. But, as a young woman in her early 20s myself, I have friends in college who have gone through a lot of the same things. Unfortunately, the money can come from mommy and daddy or from a side job. Its not hard to find a small part time job in a college town. I live near one and its always packed with the students working the restaurants and visiting friends. Getting alcohol is not difficult for a college student at all. I think this movie is a serious wake up call to any college freshman who says "that could never be me." Sadly, it could and its completely possible. I wont let the cat out of the bag in this but there are serious issues that can arise from drinking too much. A great idea and fabulous story line.