Silencing Mary

I actually flipped to Lifetime channel by mistake, just as this movie was beginning, and ended-up watching it.

It certainly deals with a serious issue, probably more prevalent than we realize, in terms of this type of attack of a young woman by an ego-maniacal fellow-student, who feels he's above the system, and, unfortunately, often is.

The cast here was believable, and the performances credible. A lot of these Canadian/Lifetime flicks are decidedly "over-the-top." However, this is one I might label as "under-the-top."

While appreciating the fact that it wasn't presented in an overblown fashion, this film somehow seemed like a record being played at a slower speed than proper, the 96 minutes seemed like many more, and it had the effect of looking like a shorter film, looped over-and-over, seemingly going on and on and on and ON - before reaching its inevitable and predictable conclusion.

Yet the engaging characters and performances made it better than the average film of this type, despite these criticisms.

And while these pictures often "milk" the climax, this one could have given it a bit more detail and length.

I liked this movie. Many people refer to it as "Sabrina the Teenage Feminist". They do that with a lot of movies that Melissa Joan Hart is in. Still, she really surprised me in this movie because she was great in the part of Mary, who fights for justice when her roommate is raped. You could tell that Hart was extremely determined in this movie and it showed. I also liked Lisa Dean Ryan as Mary's roommate. She was very effective in making me feel sorry for her character after she was raped. Josh Hopkins was good as the cocky and egotistical rapist. Lochlyn Munro convincingly played his character. The acting in this movie is better than in most TV movies, in my opinion.

The movie was pretty predictable though. Also, I expected more from the ending, it was too abrupt. The delivery could have been better. But the performances and overall plot make up for these problems.

Not only is this an excellent vehicle for Melissa Joan Hart, the precocious little darling of the pre-teen sit-com, "Clarissa Explains It All," and lately of ABC's "Sabrina, the Teenaged Witch," but is a fine little MOW in its own right. The script is tidy, the direction steady and the story nonsensational, but uncompromised. The big-time college football culture is captured well.

Hart plays campus newspaper reporter Mary Stuartson who pursues the story of an attempted cover-up by "Cornwell University" of the date rape of her roommate by star quarterback Clay Roberts. Hart is modestly heroic as she works to nail Roberts, played with testosterone cockiness and an edge of psychopathology by, I believe, Lochlyn Munro.

This movie works especially well for Hart because as a reporter she gets to talk a lot, asking questions, and she is a great talker; and when talking her face becomes expressive and natural and very winning. If she is forced to just mug a lot, as she does on Sabrina, she tends to fall back on a repertoire of expressions that soon begins to repeat.

I realized while watching this that Melissa Joan Hart is at her best as a fighter. She's not just plunky, but she's strong, and that's really no surprise because, if you've been pursuing a career as an actress since you were a little kid, you'd be tough too.

Clarissa fans will be happy to see that Hart gets to model six or seven different hair-dos and a number of cute outfits, and there are several Clarissa-style close-ups of her with minimal makeup so that her freckles show and her big blue eyes, like marbles in well water, are shown to advantage.

Notable is the fine performance by Lisa Dean Ryan as Mary's friend who was raped.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

This movie does show a lot for security both Campus & Police that shows that it has shown how Campus crimes were once hidden from Police and is getting to a point that more and more they can't hide it any more. Law is getting to a point where one of these days we can't hide crime like we used too. CourtTV has run it as some other channels have for the same reason. Too bad Melissa Joan Hart hasn't made anything off it or any many other movie's she's done.

While the movie itself wasn't bad to watch since considering that rape is no laughing matter, what disappointed me was Melissa Joan Hart and her little sister Emily were in it since I really don't like them as actresses. And another point that disappointed me was that Teryl Rothery's character, Detective Brubaker, didn't get a lot of air time. She is such a great actress!