Strictly average movie

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Blistering performances.

The film, made for Cable, is far from perfect but the truth is I was engrossed. Riveted actually. Amanda Donohoe gives a fantastic performance as someone trying to hide from her own past and failing in the most devastating way. Her torture is written all over her fabulous face. Great part of the film is just mesmerizing. Young faces full of something lyrical and magic. Including the future Oscar nominee, Mark Whalberg. There is an undeniable Hitchcockian touch, even the score has a Bernard Herrman sound. I saw it a week ago and here I am, still thinking about it. Not available on DVD. I would love to hear the behind the scenes. I'm sure there is story there.

I was curious about "The Substitute" because it was Mark Whalberg's debut as an actor but I couldn't have imagined the pleasures that this off beat melodrama had to offer. Elegantly told with unexpected holes in the narration here and there but with a thrilling central performance by Amanda Donohoe that left me kind of breathless. There is also a visual intention that is both surprising and deeply engrossing. Amanda Donohe looking at herself in the mirror at different times of her shattering journey gives you clues as to were her mind is. What does she actually see when she looks into the mirror? She was always a positive human being that was pushed into an infernal situation and instead of getting herself out she gets in deeper and deeper. I felt sympathy for her and at the same time she terrified me. The superb Hitchcockian score is another major plus.

This surprising film made for Paramount television includes some startling cinematic strokes and a phenomenal performance by Amanda Donohoe. She plays not just a good teacher but a great one. Capable to inspire her students injecting in their souls a sense of being. Discovering that her husband is cheating on her with one of her students, something inside her snaps. She kills her husband and his lover, burns the house down and disappears. We find her some time later in another school becoming a substitute teacher with a brand new identity. That's all I'm going to say, those are the first few minutes of the movie. Her new identity is not going to cover completely her self loathing. Amanda Donohoe never look so beautiful, so strong or so vulnerable. We are aware of her internal struggle between the goodness that she always nurtured and the evil that made a home inside her. The film has extraordinary moment of lyrical beauty. Some extraordinary faces and sequences filled with a strange, uncomfortable tension. Some other moments seem shot by someone else. Stiff and unconvincing. But what's good is really terrific and makes the film a worthy case for re-evaluation/ 8 out of 10

Amanda Donohoe's performance is the highlight of this TV film.Gale had it all. Students who loved her and an adoring husband. Apparently, he found another love and when he was caught in the act, he is killed along with his lover.Gale runs off to Minnesota and begins a new teaching career. With Mrs. Fisher, the regular teacher, out on sick leave and probably taking early retirement, Laura Ellington, her new name, gets a long-term position and works with extremely difficult youngsters.She now looks like a witch and is quite a character. When Mrs. Fisher announces her surprise return, Laura does away with her so as to get the teaching position permanently.The film, as is the case with many others of this type, begins to deteriorate as the bodies pile up. Laura goes to bed with one of the students and then takes up with his widowed father. Mark Wahlberg plays a troubled student. When he follows Ms. Ellington to Mrs. Fisher's house, she kills him.I'll stop here because the ending is contrived ...but wild. Our school systems stink but a teacher like this, wow!