High School Lover (2017) Reviews

• Miscast and bad ending

  phd_travel2017-02-07

  Why is James Franco doing these Lifetime movies? The ironic thing is he acts pretty badly here - the other actors are much more believable. In fact he would have been better cast as the predatory sleazeball than Franoics Arnaud who looks more clean cut. A teenaged girl gets swept off her feet by an older movie star who begins to obssess about her. Considering he has plenty of other options it doesn't really explain why he needs her so badly. The fater of the girl played by Franco makes a futile attempt to stop the romance. The ending is one of the weakest in Lifetime history and that's saying a lot. How stupid are the wife and daughter for calling the father before the police? How come the police were slower than Franco in getting to the house? It's just curiosity that made me watch this movie and it was a waste of time.

• A game of frustration

  sirenau2017-02-06

  ****SPOILERS AHEAD***** As another reviewer put it, this movie could have been a lot better if it had not been a Lifetime movie. For most of the movie I was wondering why I wasn't seeing that movie. As in, why not focus on that instead of this over cooked Lifetime trope. There was so much in that movie that could have been expanded on such as Christian's position as a star who has been in the industry since he was five. It was clear that he was not happy about being famous and made clear allusions to it. As someone mentioned, how is he able to do all these mundane things with the way technology is now. The fact that he was dating Kelly should have been all over the Internet the moment he showed up in his bike (*rolls eyes*) in her school. Since Kelly is 17 and a New York resident it would not have been a illegal for him to have a relationship with her since 17 is the legal age on consent in NY. His people should have been all over him about what he was doing but we never meet his people except for the lightweight he surrounded himself with. Quite frankly I did not buy that a man who has been working in the entertainment industry since he was five without any (mentioned) scandals would have done something so reckless. While watching this a I wished I had seen the behind the scenes of the entertainment industry. For example, Christian dated Kelly's stepmother and the relationship was clearly an abusive one so he must have made her a sign a contract so none of it would come out. Nothing of this sort was ever discussed in the movie. Also, exploring the power dynamics would have been great seeing as Christian was ready to power play with Kelly's dad. So instead of all these movies that would have been great if written and directed properly, we had the obsessive boyfriend that turns into a psycho and I don't even have to tell you how it ends. Seriously Lifetime? What a waste of potential. In the future, a movie closer to reality would have been much better than this.

• Potentially interesting premise shoved into the usual clichés

  mgconlan-12017-02-05

  Lifetime's latest "world premiere," aired February 4, is a story called "High School Lover" which was illustrated in the promos by a two-shot of an almost unrecognizable James Franco and a young actress named Paulina Singer, which made it seem like it would be a story of a middle-aged man becoming sexually obsessed with a high-school-age nymphet and ruining himself and her in the process. Instead it turns out that Paulina Singer is playing 17-year-old high-school senior Kelley Winters and Franco is playing her father, cinematographer Rick Winters. Kelley is suffering through a major bout of teen alienation that seems to have been triggered by the death of her mother (we're never told how mom died) and her dad's uncomfortably rapid remarriage to former model Samantha (Julia Jones). She also hangs out with high-school friends Allison (Lana Condor) and Larry (Tyler Alvarez), and somehow the three teens wangle an invitation to a private party at an underground club where Kelley meets movie star Christian Booth (François Arnaud), who has a reputation for playing romantic leads in so-called "chick flicks" but wants — or at least says he wants — parts that will establish himself as a serious actor. He also says that he's 26 and has been working since he was five, and he doesn't seem to think being a Hollywood star is all that great a fate even though millions of other men his age would kill to get where he is. Christian has the hots for Kelley as soon as he sees her, and despite the resistance of her dad — who grounds her for two weeks after she arrives late from that party and he learns that she and Allison didn't spend the night studying together, as Kelley had said they were doing — Kelley and Christian drift into an affair. The film is at its best when the writers and director Jerell Rosales plunge our three wild-eyed high-school kids into Christian and his orbit and make the story literally a modern-dress version of "Cinderella" — not only do Christian and Kelley become a dream pair but Allison and Larry both end up in the orbit of Tim, a Black stage magician (I thought he was the sexiest guy in the film and the actor is regrettably unidentified so far on the film's IMDb.com page) who's Bisexual and into three-ways. Larry also gets to snort coke — yes, it's the sort of depiction of Hollywood's inside where drugs are passed around like party favors — and the three get to do a lot of riding around in Christian's big white stretch limousine. "High School Lover" is one of those frustrating films that could have been better if the writers had explored more of the issues involved instead of running a potentially interesting situation into the usual Lifetime tropes. I kept wondering how Christian Booth, if he's supposed to be such a big movie star, can do normal human things like walk up to Kelley and her friends on a beach without any hint that anyone recognizes him — in real life stars get mobbed by fans when they try to do that and have entourages around them virtually 24/7 to protect them — and also how Christian seems blithely oblivious to the potential consequences of a sexual affair with a 17-year-old. Even if he escaped prosecution for statutory rape, the scandal certainly wouldn't be good for his career! Also he doesn't seem to have a manager, an agent or a personal staff around him running interference; I kept expecting there to be someone in his entourage warning him about the potential legal and career consequences of his affair with Kelley, and possibly saying, "Oh, no, here we go again," as Christian's sex drive once again leads him into potentially career-ending complications. Another issue I'd have liked this story to explore is the way a real-life Christian could have used his star power over Rick; I'd have wanted a scene in which Christian told Rick, "I can make your career — or I can break it. Let me sleep with your daughter, and maybe I'll hire you to shoot my next movie." A situation like that would have given James Franco a legitimate dramatic conflict to play — protect my daughter or boost my career? — instead of having him move through the film haplessly and express his frustration with the situation by doing little more than glower. There is a hint towards the end that Christian is going to use his "pull" with Rick's director (when he shows up on Rick's set he says he's there "just to see my old friend, who's directing") to have him fired, but the writers make surprisingly little of it. Once again a real-life Christian might well have told that director, "Get rid of Rick and I'll be in your next movie — and with my star power attached you can do that dream project you've been wanting to make for years!" Instead of these deeper, richer possibilities (had I been writing this I might have even flirted with a "Seven Keys to Baldpate"-style meta-ending in which the entire story turns out to be the plot of Christian's latest movie!), Coney, Dube and Rosales seem content to shove a potentially interesting situation into the usual Lifetime mold, including Christian inexplicably turning from spoiled-brat star to total psycho in the last few acts, and by refusing to explore some of the darker possibilities of their story they actually make their film seem worse than the conventional Lifetime fare.

• A GREAT TV MOVIE, DON'T BELIEVE THE HATERS! IF YOU WANT OSCAR QUALITY, DON'T WATCH TV MOVIES!

  vnssyndrome892019-03-12

  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/

• Listen...It's a Lifetime movie not an Oscar nominated one!

  katie_d_photography2018-12-23

  If you're like me and LOVE watching Lifetime movies then you'll like this one. Yes it's full of cliches, yes it's predictable BUT that's why people love these types of LMN movies lol